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LIFE OF 

GEORGE R. SMITH 

FOUNDER OF SEDALIA, MO. 



IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND 

SOCIAL LIFE OF SOUTHWESTERN MISSOURI, 

BEFORE AND DURING THE CIVIL WAR 



By 
SAMUEL BANNISTER HARDING, Ph.D. 

Junior Professor of History in Indiana University 



SEDALIA, MO. 

PRIVATELY PRINTED 

1904 



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UBRARY of 30N(SS£SS 
Iwu Oopiesi rteuiivtfoi 

APR 24 iyU5 

30Dyn«;ni tntry 

OUiSS if AXc. Noj 

COPY 'o. 



Copyright, 1904, by 
MRS. M. E. SMITH and MRS. S. E. COTTON 



To 

THE UNION MEN OF THE SOUTH 

This Book is Dedicated 

-iSj) X\t £)attg:I)terfii of ©ne of X\t\x g^umbrr 

In honor of those heroes who, in the hour of the Nation's 

peril, rose above the influence of environment and 

Hneage, and vv^ere true to their national duty 



PREFACE 

The preparation of this work was undertaken by 
the author at the request of Mrs. M. E. Smith and 
Mrs. S. E. Cotton, daughters of General Smith. 
What value it has as a picture of the community 
and times with which it deals is largely due to the 
loving insight and literary skill with which they 
have set down their own memories of those van- 
ished days, and to the patient care with which, dur- 
ing more than a score of years, they have preserved 
and accumulated materials for this biography. 
"This object," wrote Mrs. Smith, ''has been con- 
stantly in our hearts since our father's death. When 
an edifice is built, the corner-stone that lies hidden 
in the darkness is equally important with the spire 
that pierces the heavens ; so also with the structure 
of the society and government of a community, with 
the culture of a people, with the Christian manhood 
of its citizens. Whatever humble part his life con- 
tributed, we desire to record, — plainly, for we can 
do it in no other way ; truthfully, for he would 
scorn any other." This is the spirit in which the 
book was conceived, and this is the spirit in which 



Vlll 



PREFACE 



it has been executed. It is hoped that the result will 
be found not merely a monument of filial piety, but 
a history of some value as a record of the growth 
and action of American life and character amid 
scenes that have now passed away. 

That this hope is not wholly unwarranted, is 
evidenced by the testimony of competent authori- 
ties. In a letter dated September i8, 1894, the 
perusal of which had much to do with the pres- 
ent author's undertaking his task, Dr. Edward 
Everett Hale wrote : "Say to any gentleman whom 
you see, that I have looked over these papers with 
much interest. Say that I was myself engaged in the 
affairs of the Emigrant Aid Company in Kansas 
before the war, so that I knew already something 
of the very remarkable circumstances which sur- 
rounded your father's life. Say that, if I were 
twenty-five years younger, I should certainly un- 
dertake such a book as you propose myself, and 
that I consider that there are materials here for 
preparing a very instructive and entertaining chap- 
ter of American history, which ought to be written." 

Judge Albion W. Tourgee, after looking through 
the papers collected for this biography, wrote Octo- 
ber 21, 1894: "I want to thank you for introducing 
me to your father, his struggles and his time. . . . 
It is a fine, strong, unique life, cast in a mold of 



PREFACE ix 

circumstance as rare and exceptional as itself. I 
am glad of these things, — first, that it was strong 
and rough ; second, that it was bloodless ; third, 
that he was not a political success ; fourth that he 
was good enough to be admirable, and not good 
enough to awaken doubt as to his verity. I like 
men ; I am not fond of marvels." 

Under date of February 8, 1901, after having 
examined the manuscript of this biography. Dr. 
Hale wrote again : "I am much more interested 
in the memorial than I could have thought possible. 
The ground which it covers seems to me of great 
importance, and I am glad that Mr. Harding has 
not shirked the extreme difficulty of working out 
the early chapters. . . . He has made what 
seems to me a very valuable contribution to the his- 
tory of our country, on lines which historians gen- 
erally shirk." 

And Mr. Frank B. Sanborn, after reading care- 
fully this manuscript, wrote March 15, 1901 : ''I 
agree with those ladies that it is every way de- 
sirable 'that each locality should have its history 
written, especially in its development from embry- 
onic conditions' ; and it is this feature of the book, 
after its illustrations of a heroic but practical char- 
acter, which is specially to be praised. Few of this 
century can appreciate the state of society that 



X PREFACE 

existed even in the older States seventy-five years 
ago ; and still fewer can understand the primitive 
conditions under which Jefferson's grand acquisi- 
tion of unlimited Louisiana was added to the realm 
of civilization. This volume gives details of that 
condition, and carries along the story of the process, 
up to the end of the century in which Jefferson's 
ever-germinating influence more and more pre- 
vailed. . . . The tragedy at which our genera- 
tion, and that earlier one of General Smith assisted, 
culminated in the renascence, not the fall, of a glori- 
ous State, and this glorious Missourian had no 
small share in the new birth of Liberty, east and 
west of the great rivers in Jefferson's Louisiana. 
The political vicissitudes that preceded our Revo- 
lution of 1 86 1 — no less important for the cause of 
Freedom than the Revolution of 1775 — are in this 
volume dwelt upon with more detail than might 
seem necessary to a New England reader. But 
considering how little is known by us of the critical 
struggle in Missouri through 1861 and the years 
immediately preceding, and how partial and mis- 
leading is the story told by Lucien Carr in his 
Missouri and by Leverett Spring in his Kansas, — 
both volumes in the 'American Commonwealth 
Series,' — these tell-tale letters and speeches will not 
be thought too much." 



PREFACE xi 

In conclusion the author wishes, in his own be- 
half and that of General Smith's daughters, to make 
acknowledgment of favors received from the Public 
and Mercantile Libraries of St. Louis, from the 
Adjutant-General's office at Jefferson City, and 
from the Hon. A. A. Lesuer, Secretary of State of 
Missouri, who furnished him with copies of several 
journals of the General Assembly and of the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1861. Many of the ma- 
terials used in this biography were collected by the 
late Mr. Bacon Montgomery, and Mr. L Mac. 
Demuth, both of Sedalia ; and a number of General 
Smith's former friends and associates furnished 
sketches or information for this work. Finally, 
public thanks should be returned to Dr. Hale and 
to Judge Tourgee for suggestions and advice gen- 
erously given Mesdames Smith and Cotton, and to 
Mr. F. B. Sanborn for a helpful revision of the 
manuscript. 

Bloomington, Indiana, 

November 5, 1904. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER I 

Youth and Early Manhood; Life in Ken- 
tucky (1804-33) ..... I 

CHAPTER H 

Removal to Missouri ; Founding of George- 
town (1833-37) 14 

CHAPTER HI 
Old Missouri Life . . . . '3^ 

CHAPTER IV 
Business ; the Mormon War ; Politics 

(1835-44) 56 

CHAPTER V 
Mail and Freighting Contracts (1842-52) 90 

CHAPTER VI 
Political Correspondence (1845-49) . • 113 

CHAPTER VII 
The Struggle for the Pacific Railroad 

(1849-53) ^53 



xiv CONTENTS 



PAGE 

CHAPTER VIII 
In THE Legislature (1854-55) . . . 176 



CHAPTER IX 

Slavery and the Kansas Troubles 

(1S54-55) 210 

CHAPTER X 
State and National Politics (1856-58) . 240 

CHAPTER XI 

Founding of Sedalia; Eve of the War 

(1856-61) 279 

CHAPTER XII 
The Civil War in Missouri (1861-65) • • 3^4 

CHAPTER XIII 

Years of Triumph, and Life's Close 

(1866-79) 365 

INDEX 393 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



-y 



George R. Smith, at the age of seventy-three, jFrontispiece 

From a steel engraving 

George R. Smith, aged aV^a thirty . . . Facing p. 2>2 

From a daguerreotype 

Map of Missouri, showing State-aided 

Railways " 156 ' 



George R. Smith, aged fifty-one .... " 210 

From a daguerreotype 

Mrs. George R. Smith, aged forty-nine . " 296 

From a daguerreotype 



General Smith's Residence In Sedalia 

During His Last Years " 378 



LIFE OF 

GEORGE R. SMITH 



CHAPTER I 

YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD I LIFE IN KENTUCKY 
(1804— 1833) 

Ancestry — Birth, and removal to Kentucky — Death of his 
mother— His early years— Schooling — Influence of Elder 
Barton W. Stone — Origin of his anti-slavery views — 
Death of his father, after freeing his slaves — Studies law 
— Deputy Sheriff— Marries — His children — Loss by bank's 
failure — Resolve to move to Missouri. 

George Rappeen Smith, founder of the city of Se- 
dalia, Mo., was born August 17, 1804, in Powhatan 
county, Virginia. Of his maternal ancestry but lit- 
tle is known beyond the fact that his mother, Sally 
Heydon, was born September 3, 1777, of Ezekiel 
and Sarah Heydon, and that she was the second 
wife of Mr. Smith's father, who was her sec- 
ond husband. Of the paternal ancestry and early 
years of Mr. Smith the following account is given 
by his daughter, Mrs. M. E. Smith: 



2 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Our father was the fourth in immediate Hneal de- 
scent from George Smith, — the first of the family 
of whom we have any authentic record, — who set- 
tled in Powhatan county, Virginia, some time early 
in the eighteenth century. It is said by the accounts 
from which we get information that he emigrated 
in his boyhood from his home in the eastern part of 
the colony, and that he amassed a considerable for- 
tune in lands and negroes. 

Thomas, the only known son of George and Ann 
Smithy was born December 29, 1719, and died Sep- 
tember 25, 1786, aged sixty-six years and nine 
months ; he succeeded to his father's estate and 
spent his entire lifetime at the homestead in Pow- 
hatan county. Thomas was the father of six chil- 
dren, having three times married, a son and a 
daughter being the fruit of each union. The young- 
est son was named James ; the two older sons were 
each named George : the one was called George 
Stovall Smith, and the other (our grandfather) 
was known among his friends and associates as 
''Mill-pond George," from the fact that his father's 
home was located near a large pond known as ''the 
mill-pond." He was born March 15, 1747, and 
died August 9, 1820, aged 73 years and 5 months. 

When the Baptists first preached in that neighbor- 
hood the two older sons were among the converts to 
the new faith. When the Methodists followed at a 
somewhat later period, the remaining members of 
the family were among the first fruits of their 
preaching. The father, who had been an adherent 
of the church of England, now became a zealous 
supporter of the doctrines of Methodism, and the 
conference of 1780 was held at his house. James, 
the youngest son, became a Methodist minister, and 
attained considerable eminence among that people 
for his eloquence and piety. 



ANCESTRY 



3 



The two older sons, meanwhile, had become ex- 
horters and ministers to the Baptist faith. In 1780 
George Stovall Smith moved from Virginia to Jes- 
samine county, Kentucky, where he assumed the 
care of a church. Five years later he was visited 
by his brothers George and James, and the visit was 
repeated by James in 1795, and by both brothers in 
1797. Interesting journals of the scenes and in- 
cidents of these trips to Kentucky and back were 
kept by both George and James Smith. The journal 
of the former was destroyed by fire after the re- 
moval of his son to Missouri, but the journal of the 
latter is still in existence. Mention in it is made of 
the sermons preached by the reverend travelers at 
different points along the way ; it records much 
friendly controversy touching religious differences 
between the two, but in every page it glows with 
expressions of fervent piety and brotherly love. 

George Smith, our grandfather, succeeded to the 
care of Powhatan (Baptist) church in 1784, upon 
the removal of the former pastor to Kentucky. He 
also became pastor of Skinquarter and Tomahawk 
churches in Chesterfield county. These continued 
under his ministry until 1804, when he removed to 
Kentucky, after having previously visited that coun- 
try, according to our accounts, ten times. He first 
stopped in Woodford county, but shortly afterwards 
bought land in Franklin county and removed there. 
Here he was separated from William Hickman, his 
old friend and yoke-fellow in the church, only by 
Elkhorn creek. In their younger days the two had 
been knit together in soul, like David and Jonathan ; 
and thenceforth the two old veterans of the Cross 
lived together like brothers indeed until they were 
separated by death. At the time when grandfather 
Smith arrived in Kentucky there was much excite- 
ment about the slavery question. He warmly 



4 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

espoused the anti-slavery side and gave his full 
strength to its advocacy. This made him somewhat 
unpopular among the Kentucky churches ; but he 
continued to preach from time to time. 

Our grandfather Smith, like his father, was mar- 
ried three times. His first wife was Judith Guer- 
rant, daughter of Peter and Magdalene Guerrant 
(born October 17, 1745; married October 20, 1765; 
died July 4, 1801), by whom he had two children — 
Mary Ann (born April 16, 1767; married to 
William Forsee, September 20, 1783 ; died Janu- 
ary I, 1806, aged 38 years) and Esther (born 
April 19, 1768; married to James Martin, September 
'22, 1785; died November 28, 1808, aged 40 years, 
7 months). Our father, the only son of our grand- 
father, was the child of the second wife, Sally Hey- 
don, to whom he was married March 31, 1803. She 
died December 5, 1804; and on December 10, 1805, 
he married Elizabeth Dupuy, the widow of James 
Fogg (daughter of Bartholomew and Mary Dupuy; 
born August 31, 1766; married to James Fogg, De- 
cember II, 1799). A daughter, Martha Ann, whose 
short life came to an end in less than two years, was 
the sole fruit of this union. 

Our father was born at the old home in Virginia 
on August 17, 1804, and was christened George 
Rappeen (or Rapin) Smith. Within a few weeks 
after this event the family started on their journey 
to Kentucky. The rough roads occasioning severe 
jolting to the occupants of the wagons, the kind- 
hearted old negro nurse of the infant volunteered to 
carry him in a basket. The mother of the babe did 
not survive the establishing of the new home in the 
West. At the tender age of four months the child 
was left motherless, and was then transferred to the 
care of his half-sister Esther, wife of Mr. James 
Martin, who, having a son of about the same age, 



REMOVAL TO KENTUCKY 5 

became his foster mother. In the latter part of the 
same year, this sister with her family moved to the 
adjoining county of Woodford, taking the babe with 
them ; and there he remained until the death of Mrs. 
Martin, about three years later. In the meantime 
the Rev. George Smith married his third wife, and 
after the death of Mrs. Martin the child was again 
taken to the home of his father. 

In the active and healthy life of a pioneer Ken- 
tucky homestead were laid the foundations for the 
physical stature, the robust frame, and the mental 
vigor of a stalwart manhood. Of schooling the boy 
was given all that his time and the locality could 
offer. His father, a man of strong and liberal mind, 
possessed intellectual attainments of a superior or- 
der, and doubtless gave personal attention to his 
son's education. The work of the father was sup- 
plemented by a school in the vicinity ; but when we 
remember the nature of the education given in even 
the best of the rural schools of this epoch, it will be 
evident that stress must not be laid on this factor. 
Importance, also, should not be attached to the ad- 
vantages offered by the "old-field school," kept by 
Thomas Henderson at Great Crossing, in Scott 
county, to which the lad was sent when he had 
outgrown the meager facilities of the school nearer 
home. It was from the next school to which he was 
sent — that at Georgetown, the county seat of Scott 
county — that his education was most largely de- 
rived. 

The master of this school, Elder Barton W. Stone, 



6 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

was a man of noble character and liberal views, 
whose influence at that time was very marked in 
the intellectual and religious life of central Ken- 
tucky. Born in Maryland, graduated from a famous 
academy at Guilford, North Carolina, he had taught 
for awhile in a Georgia college (or academy), and 
had then entered the Presbyterian ministry, and had 
become pastor of the churches at Caneridge and 
Concord, Kentucky. Not long after, he was caught 
up by the waves of a movement which was then 
causing an upheaval of religious thought in many 
of the Southern and Middle States. This was the 
revolt against the dogmas of Calvinism, which had 
set in with the closing decade of the eighteenth 
century, and which ultimately resulted in the for- 
mation of the Christian denomination, or "Church 
of the Disciples." Stone joined in this movement 
and became leader of one branch of it ; and when the 
liberalizing clergy of Kentucky were condemned by 
the Lexington synod, in 1803, Elder Stone seceded 
with them from the Presbyterian church. The re- 
volt, once on foot, spread rapidly, and many new 
churches were founded by him and his co-workers 
in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. After the seces- 
sion. Stone refused to receive pay for his ministra- 
tions, and for a livelihood he again turned to teach- 
ing — a work for which he had much aptitude — and 
established his academy at Georgetown, Kentucky. 
It was to this school that young Smith was sent, 
in 1818, soon after he had attained his fourteenth 
year. There he gained a fair knowledge of mathe- 



EDUCATION 7 

matics, Latin, and similar studies. More impor- 
tant, however, than the knowledge which he gained 
from his instructors was the influence of the latter 
in shaping his character and emphasizing the re- 
ligious training already received from his father and 
his earlier environment ; it was to the forces brought 
to bear in this formative period of his life that Mr. 
Smith owed some of the impressions which subse- 
quently ripened into the strongest convictions of his 
character. The seed sown in the heart of the boy 
in his teens matured in after life into an unswerving 
faith in that interpretation of the Scriptures taught 
by his revered teacher, and he deemed it one of the 
greatest privileges of his life that he had been under 
the instruction of Barton W. Stone. 

An anecdote told by one of Smith's old school- 
fellows will illustrate the character of the boy and 
at the same time the influence of the master. Young 
Smith was then, as always, of an eager and impetu- 
ous temper, ever ready to champion the cause of 
those whom he considered ill used. The result was 
that he had his full share of rough and tumble fisti- 
cuffs. After one such encounter Smith and his an- 
tagonist were found to be considerably bruised and 
scratched about their faces ; and when they returned 
to "books" at the close of the recess period, Elder 
Stone "called them up, and looking first at one face 
and then at the other, lectured them most affection- 
ately, the tears flowing from the old man's eyes. 
Presently [continues this informant] George began 
to sob ; and the bovs shook hands and made friends. 



8 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

After dismission George was asked why he cried. 
'How could I help it ?' he exclaimed ; 'I be hanged 
if I wouldn't rather take a whipping than to have 
that good old man preach to me and cry.' " (Letter 
of Jno. Allen Gano, Sr., of Georgetown, Ky., July 
i6, 1881.) 

It was during this formative period, also, that 
the basis was laid in the boy's mind of those anti- 
slavery principles which found expression in his 
later life. The elder Smith, like his brother James 
(who had emancipated his slaves in 1798, before 
emigrating to Ohio) was a strong opponent of 
slavery, and had already determined to give his ne- 
groes their liberty at the first fitting opportunity. 
At his home, men of similar views often assembled 
and discussed the important subject of slavery. 
Ashland, the home of Henry Clay, lay in Fayette 
county, near by, and the well-known advocacy by 
this great statesman of a policy of gradual emanci- 
pation doubtless served to confirm the impressions 
made upon the mind of the youth by the discussions 
in his father's house. Not without its influence in 
this direction, too, was the teaching and example 
of Elder Stone himself. The latter's hatred of 
slavery had been imbibed many years before among 
the South Carolina plantations ; and his practice was 
shown to be in harmony with his preaching by the 
voluntary acceptance of a legacy of slaves from his 
mother's estate, in place of one of money, in order 
that he might transport them to Kentucky and set 
them free. In the influences that surrounded the 



DEATH OF HIS FATHER 9 

boy may be found the germ of much of the action 
of the man in later years. 

In 1820, when George R. Smith had been under 
the charge of Elder Stone for about two years, the 
boy was called home by the dangerous illness, fol- 
lowed by the death, of his father. The latter, ap- 
parently, had carried out his determination to free 
the most of his negroes, numbering about forty, 
some time before. When his will was opened it was 
found to contain the following provisions : 

Third. I give to my son, George R. Smith, forty- 
five shares of stock in the Bank of Kentucky, one 
thousand dollars in cash, the Franklin mare, my 
silver watch and silver spoons, to him and his heirs 
forever ; and further I give and bequeath unto my 
son, George R. Smith, an equal share in my prop- 
erty that shall be sold, together with all my out- 
lands that remain unsold, to him and his heirs for- 
ever. . . . 

Sixth. It is my wish that one hundred dollars 
in cash be paid to negro man Jack, and fifty dol- 
lars in cash to Molly, whom I set free some time 
past. 

Annexed to the will was found a codicil of the 
same date, January 8, 1820, containing the follow- 
ing provisions : 

Inprimis, it is my will and desire that my negro 
man Caesar be free on the eighth day of January, 
1820. Secondly, it is my desire that my negro man 
Mose, and my negro girl Araminter also be free on 
the eighth day of January, 1820. 

The "outlands" referred to above seem to have 



10 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

consisted chiefly of certain tracts of land which the 
father had located before removing to Kentucky. 
The title to these lands, however, was still in dis- 
pute, and had already occasioned some, as it was yet 
to give rise to more, litigation. The total inherit- 
ance of the young man may be estimated at about 
six thousand dollars. By the will his uncle Benja- 
min Davis, of Scott county, was made his guardian 
and curator, and with him he now made his home. 

After his father's death (August 9, 1820), several 
years more were spent by the young man in the 
school of Elder Stone. When at last he left the care 
of that good man he continued his studies for a 
while at Frankfort, under the direction of Kane 
O'Hara, an Irish political exile and a member of a 
family of some poetic fame. There, in addition to 
other studies, young Smith began the study of law, 
which he continued until he had fitted himself for 
the bar. 

When he had attained the age of twenty years he 
returned once more to the home of his uncle, and 
soon secured the appointment as deputy sheriff of 
Scott county. By a rather singular law in force in 
Kentucky at this time, the senior magistrate (there 
being usually about twenty magistrates to a county) 
was entitled to the honors and emoluments of the 
office of sheriff, the actual duties of the office being 
performed by deputy. It was by such an arrangement 
as this that Mr. Smith, before he had attained his 
twenty-second year, became practically sheriff of 
Scott county. The duties of this office were dis- 



HIS MARRIAGE ii 

charged to the satisfaction of all concerned ; but 
when called upon to inflict capital punishment upon 
a condemned criminal, his kindness of heart led him 
to refuse personally to perform the duty, and a sec- 
ond term of the office was declined. 

On April 24, 1827, Mr. Smith, then aged twenty- 
three, was married to Melita Ann Thomson, the 
daughter of his neighbor. General David Thomson. 
In 1828 a son, named David Thomson Smith after 
his maternal grandfather, was born to the young 
couple, but the child lived less than a year (June 28, 
1828, to January 2J, 1829). Two daughters — Mar- 
tha EHzabeth (Mrs. M. E. Smith), born January 10, 
1830, and Sarah Elvira (Mrs. S. E. Cotton), born 
October i, 1831, — complete the offspring of the 
union. 

His marriage profoundly affected the life of Mr. 
Smith, for it not only gave him domestic happiness, 
but it brought him into intimate relations with a 
man of strong and virile character and liberal views. 
General Thomson, the descendant of Scotch Ana- 
baptists who had emigrated to America in 171 7, was 
born at Richmond, Virginia, August 21, 1775. 
When his widowed mother removed to Kentucky, 
in 1789, he accompanied her and developed into one 
of the substantial men of central Kentucky. He 
purchased land in the neighborhood of Georgetown, 
Ky., and here, besides carrying on his farm, he 
built and operated with the labor of his negroes, "a 
merchant mill and paper mill." In politics he was 
an old-line Whisr, and from 181 1 to 1820 he was a 



12 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

member of the Kentucky State Senate. In October, 
1793, he gained his first military experience as a 
volunteer under General Scott in a campaign against 
the Indians. From 1800 to 1820 he held various im- 
portant positions in the Kentucky militia. At the 
battle of the River Thames in 1813, he commanded 
the second battalion of Richard M. Johnson's 
mounted regiment; later (January 21, 1814) he was 
promoted to the command of the Sixth brigade, and 
finally was made General for the Third Division of 
Kentucky militia. This was the man with whom 
Mr. Smith was now brought into intimate connec- 
tions. He was pre-eminently a man of energy and 
experience in affairs, and his advice and example 
may have determined to a considerable degree the 
subsequent course of Mr. Smith's life. 

In the midst of the happiness occasioned by his 
marriage came a blow which wiped out at a stroke 
a large part of Mr. Smith's estate, through the fail- 
ure of the bank in which the inheritance left by his 
father was invested. The financial depression of 
1828-29 proved too much for this institution, and 
after a period of weakness and decline^ it finally 
suspended payments entirely, and every dollar of the 
amount invested was lost. The blow was a severe 
one ; but the whole estate of the young couple was 
not involved in the ruin. General Thomson, in ac- 
cordance with his custom, had settled upon his 
daughter, at her marriage, a sufficient portion in 
land, money, and negroes to enable them to start in 
life ; and this, together with some portion of Mr. 



A FINANCIAL REVERSE 13 

Smith's own inheritance, was saved from the gen- 
eral wreck. 

Soon after this time General Thomson and Mr. 
Smith arrived at a resolution which brings us to the 
next chapter of our story, — a resolution to remove 
with their families to the new State of Missouri. 



CHAPTER II 

REMOVAL TO MISSOURI I FOUNDING OF GEORGETOWN 
(1833— 1837) 

The frontier in American history — Participation of Mr. 
Smith's ancestors in westward expansion — Decision to 
remove to Missouri — Persons taking part in the migra- 
tion — Preparations for removal — The coach — The cara- 
van of goods and negroes — Shower of meteors — Frontier 
civilization — Establishing new homes — Burning of Mr. 
Smith's cabin — Extent of the disaster — Agitation for the 
removal of the county seat — Georgetown founded and 
made capital of the county — Mr. Smith takes contract 
for building court-house — Description of it. 

"Up to our own day," says a recent writer, 
"American history has been in a large degree the 
history of the colonization of the Great West. The 
existence of an area of free land, its continuous re- 
cession, and the advance of American settlement 
westward, explain American development. 
The peculiarity of American institutions is the fact 
that they have been compelled to adapt themselves 
to the changes of an expanding people — to the 
changes involved in crossing a continent, in win- 
ning a wilderness, and in developing at each area of 
its progress out of the primitive economic and polit- 

14 



FRONTIER INFLUENCE 15 

ical conditions of the frontier into the complexity of 
city life. . . . American development has ex- 
hibited not merely advance along a single line, but a 
return to primitive conditions on a continually ad- 
vancing frontier line, and a new development for 
that area. American social development has been 
continually beginning over again on the frontier. 
This perennial new-birth, this fluidity of American 
life, this expansion westward with its new oppor- 
tunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of 
primitive society, furnishes the forces dominating 
American character. The true point of view in the 
history of this nation is not the Atlantic coast, it is 
the great West. ... At first the frontier was 
the Atlantic coast. It was the frontier of Europe in 
a very real sense. Moving westward, the frontier 
became more and more American. . . . Thus 
the advance of the frontier has meant a steady 
movement away from the influence of Europe, a 
steady growth of independence on American lines. 
And to study this advance, the men who grew up 
under these conditions, and the political, economic, 
and social results of it, is to study the really Amer- 
ican part of our history."^ 

In the foregoing extract is presented one of the 
important view-points from which the life of the 
subject of this sketch should be regarded. In the 
never-ceasing westward expansion, the ancestors of 
Mr. Smith had already borne their part. The first 

^Professor Frederick J. Turner, in Report oi American Historical 
Association for 1893, pp. 199-201. 



i6 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

George Smith of whom we have record had moved, 
"with tomahawk, rifle, and buffalo robe," from the 
coast-lands of Virginia westward to Powhatan 
county. His grandson, George Smith, in obedience 
to the same impulse had taken up the line of march 
from Virginia through the Cumberland Gap into 
the ''dark and bloody ground" of Kentucky. Now 
the latter's son, under the operation of the same 
forces, was to migrate from Kentucky to Missouri, 
there to take his part in the building of the newer 
community, as his father had done in the older one 
of Kentucky.^ 

The attention of Mr. Smith seems first to have 
been turned to Missouri by his father-in-law. With 
that large faith in the boundless possibilities of our 
country which underlies all land speculation and 
migration to new territory. General Thomson had 
made several trips to Illinois and Missouri, with a 
view to purchasing desirable government lands at 
the cheap prices at which they were then offered. 
In an old commonplace book, made from paper man- 
ufactured in his own mill, brief entries of these 
journeys are to be found. For the winter of 1825- 
26, a trip to Vandalia, Illinois, is recorded, and the 
purchase of "seventy-eight quarter sections of 
land, fifty-three at public sale for the taxes and 
twenty-five at private sale." In the fall of 1826 a 

^ It is not without interest to note in tiiis connection that on the dis- 
covery of gold in California in 1849, the project was seriously discussed 
by Mr. Smith and the Thomsons of removing in a body to that country; 
and some members of the family did move thither. See letter of M. V 
Thomson, Feb. 4, 1849 (p. 150 below). 



LAND PURCHASES 17 

second trip to Vandalia is described, with its exten- 
sion into Boone county, Missouri, and ''the upper 
part of the State." In 1830 another trip to IlHnois 
is mentioned, in company with his son-in-law, Mr. 
Smith, "to look at lands in Illinois." In October 
and November of the next year, a trip is related, in 
company with another son-in-law, Lewis Redd Ma- 
jor, to Saline county, Missouri, where (General 
Thomson adds) "Mr. Major and myself purchased 
six hundred acres of land each of us, for which we 
paid $1.25 per acre." Finally in March and April, 
1833, a trip to Missouri is mentioned, on which 
General Thomson and Mr. Major went by boat — all 
of the former trips having been made on horse- 
back — from Frankfort to Louisville, Louisville to 
St. Louis, and thence by "hack" and horseback to 
their destination. The lands purchased in 183 1 are 
now described as in Pettis county, which had been 
set off from Saline county in 1832. The party not 
only inspected the lands already purchased, doubt- 
less with a view to a speedy removal thither, but 
entered others ; and returned, by the same route, to 
their Kentucky home. 

Pettis county, in the early thirties, was almost at 
the limits of western settlement; but immigration 
was steadily setting in, and prospects were good for 
speedy development. When General Thomson pro- 
posed to his two sons-in-law that they should all 
join the westward movement, and take up their 
abodes in the new State, where larger possibilities 
existed for all, a ready assent seems to have been 



i8 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

given. But the preparations took some time. The 
mills and other property of General Thomson had to 
be disposed of, the business interests of Mr. Smith 
had to be arranged — no easy task, as it turned out, 
and one which entailed a succession of suits, extend- 
ing over a period of years, for debts due him, — and 
lastly transportation had to be furnished for a con- 
siderable number of negroes. The make-up of the 
company, the means of transportation, and the de- 
tails of the settlement in Missouri, together with 
some of the incidents of the journey itself, are thus 
described by Mrs. M. E. Smith, at that time a child 
of three years : 

In October of the year 1833, our grandfather and 
grandmother left their home near Georgetown, in 
Scott county, Kentucky, with eight of their chil- 
dren, to make a new home in Missouri. Three 
children had already married. Manlius V. Thomson, 
the oldest child, who was practicing law in George- 
town, remained behind. Mildred Elvira, the next 
oldest, had married Mr. Lewis Redd Major, and 
they, with their four children and a large family of 
negroes, decided to emigrate to the new country. 
Melita Ann, the third child and second daughter, 
was married six years previously to our father, and 
with us two little girls also took seats in her fath- 
er's commodious carriage to make the long tedious 
journey of seven hundred miles. Besides ourselves 
there were two other little girls to accompany this 
party : our aunts, Marion, a lovely child of ten sum- 
mers, and Melcena, the baby sister of eight, the two 
youngest children of General and Mrs. Thomson. 

Martha Vienna, one of their ten children, had 
married and died ; and Mentor, the fourth child and 



PREPARATIONS FOR REMOVAL 19 

second son, had chosen his bride to bear him com- 
pany to the far-away home. He had won the hand 
of Miss Cora Woolridge, of Hopkinsville, Ken- 
tucky, a sparkhng young woman of beauty and ac- 
compHshments. It was said of her that her industry 
was much more than ordinary in those days of 
slave labor, when the young ladies were taught to 
depend on their dusky maidens for the every-day 
services of life. The young couple did not, however, 
make the trip at the time we did, but came some 
months later. The other three boys who complete 
our grandfather's family were Milton, Morton, and 
Monroe — aged respectively nineteen, seventeen, 
and fifteen years. Milton, the oldest, was detailed 
by his father to take charge of the slaves, of whom 
there was a large company, and the two younger 
boys were to accompany him. 

Our mother and grandmother, our two young 
girl aunts, my sister and myself, all traveled in one 
large carriage, with a negro man Jackson driving, 
and grandpa on horseback to find the roads and 
judge of the crossings over muddy places. The car- 
riage was a great yellow coach, closed all around 
from air and light except for the windows in the 
doors. It sat high up on the springs, and had fold- 
ing steps by which to ascend into its broad deep- 
cushioned seats. On the outside was a driver's seat 
high up above the horses, and behind was another 
large seat, that hung by broad belts of leather, for 
an outrider whose duty it was to open gates and at- 
tend the family. 

The whole was drawn by a pair of horses capar- 
isoned with the ponderous trappings of the times ; 
and a saddle horse accompanied the party which 
was used alternately by the ladies to relieve the 
monotony and tedium of the journey. In another 
party went the caravan of covered ox-wagons con- 



20 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

taining the furniture, looms, spinning-wheels (big 
and little), tableware, etc.; together with the 
negroes and their families. The whole company of 
emigrants consisted of eighty-eight persons, of 
whom seventy-five were slaves. 

Before the final good-byes were spoken there 
were many things to do. Among the most impor- 
tant of these was the arranging to take or to leave 
entire slave families together, so that there might 
be no involuntary separation. 

The slaves had intermarried with the neighbors' 
negroes, and our grandfather, being humane in his 
feeHngs, was unwilling to separate them ; so to over- 
come this difficulty, he had to buy where he could, 
and sell where he must. This was no little task 
among a number of thirty or forty people, but final- 
ly it was accomplished as far as possible, and the 
caravan set out. The negroes — men and women, the 
babies and the gray-haired grandparents — were to 
follow their master. There were five or six very old 
ones — Aunt Creasy, Aunt Kizzy, Uncle Toby, Aunt 
Rachel, and Uncle Jack — who, as I remember them, 
were oracles of wisdom, holding direct communica- 
tion with spirits, wizards, and witches ; and who 
would on occasion deal out some of their mysterious 
spells to us listening wondering children, in the 
long quiet evenings that followed our settlement in 
the new country. Dear old ''Kaintucky" memories 
were to them hallowed things of the beautiful, irrev- 
ocable past ; and their faltering, trembling voices, 
their heavy lips, and wrinkled faces only made their 
pathetic stories the more sacred and the more ten- 
der to our too credulous ears. 

Our father was to follow, after the settlement 
of some business at Georgetown. Of the incidents 
of the trip we must remain ignorant almost entirely, 
as the writer (one of the babies in the carriage) 



THE REMOVAL 21 

can only remember a place called Purgatory, in Illi- 
nois, where the road led through a swamp ; and the 
memory goes that it really was a "Purgatory," as 
the image of the floundering horses is vividly before 
her. Another scene that was impressed indelibly, is 
the crossing of the river in the ferry-boat at St. 
Louis, and how frightened our mother and grand- 
mother were. The rest of the journey is lost in the 
baby memories of the mind that is trying to record 
these incidents. 

Our Uncle Milton, who had charge of the ne- 
groes, was moving on slowly, but was not long after 
us in reaching the place of our destination. Our 
party, after tarrying with relatives for several weeks 
in Calloway county, arrived in Pettis on the evening 
of the twelfth of November, 1833, ^^^ went into 
camp (so our grandfather's journal says) in the 
Lamine river bottom, at what is now known as 
Scott's Ford. From about ten o'clock in the evening 
until daybreak they witnessed the celebrated dis- 
play of meteors in the heavens. Dear old Peggy, 
who was cook for our grandfather in his later life, 
and died in 1898, at the age of seventy-seven, told 
vividly how frightened the negroes were at the fall- 
ing of the stars. 'We were in camp by the Lamine 
river," she said, ''and we-all thought judgment had 
come. Could hear the stars falling like hail on the 
tops of the tents. The old folks all prayed, and we 
children 'hollered.' The elements were ablaze. It 
done lasted for hours, and we-all never expected to 
see daylight no more." 

Having reached their destination, the travelers 
found themselves in the midst of a typical frontier 
region. Boonville, the nearest trading town on the 
Missouri river, was thirty-five miles distant. From 



22 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

that point alone could the new settlers get their 
supplies. What roads existed were atrocious, 
being mere bridle-paths through forest and prairie, 
abounding in quagmires and rough with stumps 
and hillocks. Settlers at first were few and far 
between. Beyond the meridian of the mouth of 
the Kansas river (that being, until after 1837, the 
western limit of the State throughout its length) 
lay the unorganized territory of the United States, 
to which the Indian title was not yet extinguished; 
and there roamed the Foxes and the Sacs, the Kan- 
sas and the Shawnees, the Osages and Cherokees. 
The Missouri of that day was a wild region, con- 
taining but a crude civilization. The cabins of the 
settlers were almost always constructed of unhewn 
logs daubed with clay, with clapboard roofs, and 
stick-and-clay chimneys. At the time of the settle- 
ment there was not one house in the neighbor- 
hood that had window-glass in it. If the owner 
was of an aristocratic turn, he might indulge 
in the luxury of a puncheon floor ; if not, the 
bare earth, beaten hard, sufficed. The house- 
hold furniture, for the most part, was home- 
made. The bedsteads were usually of the "one- 
post" sort, formed by planting a single upright 
or fork in the floor of the room, connecting this with 
the two adjoining walls by poles let into the logs, 
and weaving a platform of poles and hickory bark 
(or clapboards) across for the couch; on this was 
then thrown a few deer-skins, and such bedding as 
the parties could afford. Articles of clothing were 



PIONEER LIFE 23 

almost entirely of home manufacture, and lucky was 
the settler who came already equipped with cards, 
spinning-wheels, looms, and the other apparatus 
needed for spinning and weaving. "Our neighbors 
called," writes General Thomson's daughter Marion, 
"arrayed in buckskin trousers and jackets decorated 
with fringes of the same material. You ask. How 
were the ladies dressed? I think there were just 
three in the county. They wore expensive dresses 
when they called, made of calico at twenty-five cents 
a yard. The wolves often howled 'round about the 
cabins with perfect impunity, with none to molest 
or make them afraid. You could scarcely walk a 
mile without seeing herds of deer. Flocks of wild 
turkeys filled the woods and a superabundance of 
rattlesnakes crawled about the premises. All we had 
to do to get a supply of 'sweetening' was to fell a 
bee-tree, and we could cut out bushels of honey." 
By co-operation alone could the settlers "raise" their 
buildings. Of this, an early settler says : "When 
we had a house or stable to 'raise,' our neighbors to 
the distance of eight or ten miles up and down 
Muddy were on hand, each with his gun and dog, 
and a deer or turkey lashed on behind him. After 
the work was done a great feast would follow, and 
often a long-necked gourd filled with apple or peach 
brandy would be produced and partaken of, while 
stories of hair-breadth escapes by flood and field 
would be narrated by each in turn." ^ 

This was the region, and such the culture into 

'^History of Pettis County (1882). 



24 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

which the new-comers from Kentucky were now 
introduced. The Thomson-Smith colonists brought 
considerable wealth with them and were able to live 
much more luxuriously than their neighbors. To 
continue from the reminiscences of Mrs. M. E. 
Smith : 

Among our grandfather's colored men were a 
carpenter, a stone-mason, and a millwright, besides 
the farm-hands; and among the women a weaver, 
a spinner, cooks, and housemaids, so that the ele- 
ments of a rude civilization were in the family. On 
a tract of timber land which our grandfather had 
bought on Muddy creek, several cabins were ready ; 
and into these we moved with our grandfather. A 
little later our mother's oldest sister, her husband, 
Redd Major, and their little family of three girls 
and one boy, located not far away. These were very 
pleasant days to me, and in the golden retrospect 
there is no want of any luxury or happiness in the 
dear humble homes, lighted as they were by my 
mother's and grandmother's gentle faces and Aunt 
Elvira's good cheer, that made all the children 
happy. Dear Aunt Marion and Aunt Melcena, and 
Cousins Ann and Evelyn, the oldest of Aunt El- 
vira's daughters ! I looked with the envy of a child 
at their rapidly advancing womanhood, and a kind 
of reverence came over me, as I thought that mine 
with its privileges would never come. The other 
children of Aunt E. were ''Bine" or Vienna — some- 
what older than myself, — and "Johnny," the young- 
est of all except my baby sister. 

The cabins which were occupied during the first 
winter were rude and crowded. The next year our 
grandfather built some better and more commodi- 
ous ones on the southwest quarter of section seven, 



HIS CABINS BURNED 25 

which Hes about three miles northwest of George- 
town. These were arranged in a row, two and two 
together, connected by an open passage-way roofed 
over. His own family occupied two of them until he 
could build a better house ; this, when built, in 1840, 
was christened Elm Spring, and became our grand- 
father's permanent home.^ The boys, Morton and 
Monroe, were sent back to Georgetown, Kentucky, 
to complete their education. Later Milton taught 
school in a log-house built for the purpose about 
half way between our Uncle Major's and our grand- 
father's, where the children of both families first 
started to school in the new country. Here he had 
as pupils the neighbors' children, as well as his 
own little sisters, Marion and Melcena, and the 
nieces and nephews. 

When our grandfather removed from the cabins 
on the Muddy he sold them and the land about 
them to our father. We had been living there 
about a year, when one day a great misfortune 
befell us. Our mother and father, with sister, 
had gone to visit our Uncle Mentor, who had 
just brought his bride to a log-cabin home in our 
locality. While they were away our dear little house 
took fire and burned to the ground, destroying all 
that we had. It was a serious loss. It was our little 
all, brought at a great expenditure from our old 
home in Kentucky, and each piece had its precious 
associations. All the relics and heirlooms from our 
Grandfather Smith were destroyed. We were left 
destitute, indeed. Nothing was saved, not even an 
article of clothing. I happened to be at my grand- 
father's about a mile away for a few days and had 
a change of clothing. Except for this, we were de- 
prived of everything and had to begin anew. My 

1 The house, and the tree for which the place was named, are 
doing good service still. (August, 1904.) 



26 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

only memory of the sad event is that of seeing my 
mother weep when she and my father, after 
turning away from their home, came to my grand- 
father's for refuge. The tableau of the negroes and 
white people is vividly impressed on my memory, 
all looking toward the red smoke that was still go- 
ing up in the west. A kind neighbor, Mrs. Reece, 
who lived about a half mile from us, gave to my 
little sister a white cotton dress, home-grown, home- 
spun, and home-woven. My mother's eyes would 
fill with tears to the last day of her life, when she 
would speak of this neighborly act. 

After this disaster, Mr. Smith and his small 
family took up their residence once more, for a 
time, with General Thomson. Preparations, how- 
ever, were begun and prosecuted through the en- 
suing winter for the building of a new house. Of 
this period his daughter writes : 

The calamity which had overtaken us was the 
more serious because there were no stores within 
our reach from which to replenish our household 
goods ; but from our good grandmother's supply, 
our lost bedding was partially restored, and 
our father's deft fingers and willing heart soon sup- 
plied a more homely, perhaps, but more precious 
set of furniture from the black-walnut trees that 
skirted the stream near by. Two walnut chests I 
recall, to the depths of which I often had to go, 
standing on tip-toe — the one for clean bedding, the 
other for the laundried cotton underwear, which al- 
ways had to go through a second airing on chairs 
in front of the fire before being used. Well do I re- 
member, also, the bedstead with short upright posts 
that served for pa and mother ; and the lower one. 



GEORGETOWN FOUNDED 27 

the little trundle-bed, with its rollers, both of which 
might be called awkward in the present stage of 
civilization, but which served well their purpose in 
that day. That same little bed gave many a sacred 
repose to our child forms, and many an uneasy rest- 
ing (or unresting) place when we were shaken up 
by the ague, from which none of us escaped. 

Even before the burning of their cabin, Mr. Smith 
had begun to entertain projects for a removal of his 
family from their first location on the banks of the 
Muddy ; and their misfortune gave readier oppor- 
tunity for the change. But before we pass to this 
we must glance at the growth of the larger organi- 
zations — the county and especially the county-town 
— with which the next home-founding was to be 
connected. 

Pettis county had only been organized a year 
when General Thomson and his sons-in-law took 
up their residence there. Most of the "settlements" 
of that time were made on the creeks, where timber 
for building abounded, and where springs provided 
palatable water. The county seat was first estab- 
lished at such a settlement on Muddy creek, where 
Mr. Thomas Wasson had erected a water-mill, and 
a store had been opened by Clifton and Watson 
Wood ; there a blacksmith shop was also soon in 
full blast. This little hamlet was named St. Helena, 
but it came almost universally to be spoken of as 
'Tinhook" or "Pinhook Mills," owing apparently 
to the fact that the natives were given to fishing 
in the mill-pond with hooks made of bent pins. This 
location for the county seat proving inconvenient. 



28 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

as settlement advanced its removal to a point nearer 
the center of the county was decided upon. Two of 
the chief citizens of the county, Messrs. Ramey and 
Wasson, both members of the county court, offered 
to give a tract of land to the county, provided a town 
should be laid out and the county seat established 
thereon. This tract was near the center of the 
county and offered a beautiful site of rolling ground 
covered with a natural growth of trees ; best of all, 
it afforded two never-failing springs, on the north 
and on the south sides of the proposed town, so that 
the water supply of prospective inhabitants was 
assured. These advantages led to the acceptance of 
the offer, and the new town was laid out. General 
Thomson being allowed to name the settlement, 
called it Georgetown, in honor of his old Kentucky 
home. An act of the legislature was procured by 
which the county seat was removed from St. Helena 
to the latter place; where it remained until 1865, 
when again, by an act of the legislature, it was re- 
moved to Sedalia, its present location. 

Before the county seat could actually be trans- 
ferred to Georgetown, it was necessary to erect a 
building in which to house the county records and 
hold the sessions of the county court. With this Mr. 
Smith was especially connected, as will be seen from 
the following reminiscences of his daughter, Mrs. 
M. E. Smith : 

When the question of building a court-house came 
up, the people, because of the poverty of the com- 
munity, wanted a log one ; but they were persuaded 



BUILDS THE COURT-HOUSE 29 

— by our father, as Major Gentry told me — to build 
a brick one. When this was first proposed, it met 
with great opposition, for no brick had ever been 
made in that portion of the country, and it was 
thought there was no one there who understood the 
art. To overcome this opposition, our father and 
Judge Ramey made a wTitten proposition to the 
court to manufacture the brick and erect the build- 
ing within tw^o years ; and on December 26, 1835, 
they were awarded the contract. 

The building was erected handsomely and sub^ 
stantially within the time allowed,^ and the square 
was inclosed with a fence and shaded with locust 
trees selected and planted gratuitously by our grand- 
father. To my eyes there never was a prettier house. 
It was square, with a large door in the center of each 
of three sides, and a large window on each side of 
the doors. The north side had the two windows but 
no door, the space between being occupied by the 
judge's bench. This was a platform about four feet 
high with chairs on it, and terminated at the tw^o 
windows with four or five steps. A balustrade fol- 
lowed the whole length of steps and platform, and 
continued at right angles, inclosing a square in the 
center of the building which had benches just in- 
side the railing. This space was floored, and served 
some grand purpose for the primitive courts ; where 
justice, I trust, was meted out with a little more 
regard to her blind prerogative than is done now 
with our advanced civilization when the penalty pur- 
sues the poor friendless culprit, but the rich man is 
lionized, even honored, by our laws and judges! 
But to return. The rest of the floor was brick, with 
some benches. A stairway, which I suppose now 
was a common one, led magnificently with its balus- 

^ Accepted by the county court, and the contractors discharged from 
their bond, December i6, 1837. 



30 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

trade to the second story; and as my young feet 
proudly ascended its lofty height, I looked on the 
assembled multitudes with awe and admiration that 
have not come to me since, even in the palaces of 
Europe. The roof was beautiful, not simply a board- 
covered comb, like our common cabin homes, but 
square and shingled, and terminated at its top with 
a lovely octagonal observatory, with green shutters 
hung to white posts ; and this also had a beautiful 
shingled roof. The cupola in turn was surmounted 
by a tapering spire that held a gilded globe with an 
arrow above, on which was pivoted a fish of gold 
that turned with the wind. How could anything be 
prettier ! That lovely red brick wall, with its painted 
windows and doors, that splendid roof, and that 
beautiful cupola, up two stories high ! And the 
ladies could go in, too ; for within its walls they had 
big meetings, great revivals of religion, dancing 
schools and day schools, and sometimes temperance 
speeches and lyceums. At these societies, balls, 
parties, and May Day celebrations, you can have no 
idea how the sun shone on the court-house, and how 
lovely the moonlight fell and played its soft caress- 
ing touches about the great locust trees our grand- 
father had planted ! . . . No, you can never 
know ! . . . Dear old Georgetown ! 



CHAPTER III 

OLD MISSOURI LIFE 

Removal to Georgetown — The new cabin — Household 
life — Growth of the community — Chills and fever, and 
their treatment — Doctors — Taverns and travel — Churches 
and religious life — Education — Efforts to secure an acad- 
emy for young ladies — The first piano — Slavery, drink, 
and their attendant evils — The position of women. 

When Georgetown was laid out, Mr. Smith re- 
moved thither with his family. He did not like 
farming, and by removing to the new town there 
was a prospect that he might be able to turn to ac- 
count the knowledge of law which he had acquired 
in Kentucky. This expectation, however, was not 
realized. As Mrs. Smith says : "There was no 
occasion to use his knowledge of law. In this new 
country there was no litigation. Everybody was 
everybody's friend. They helped each other. If a 
house was to be built, all the neighbors went to the 
'raising.' If any were sick, the neighbors helped 
take care of the invalid. Any misfortune to one 
called forth the sympathy of the neighborhood." 

So the chief occupation of Mr. Smith, for some 
years after his removal to Georgetown, continued to 
be the management of his farm. His land adjoined 

31 



32 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the town, and extended south for about a mile; it 
was soon inclosed by a worm or rail fence, and a 
portion of it was planted with an orchard of fine 
peach and apple trees. The cabin which he erected 
on this land was the second one erected in George- 
town, the first having been built by George Heard, 
a lawyer, who taught the first school there. ^ Both 
were built of square-hewn logs instead of round 
ones, as was usually the case, and had glass win- 
dows. The following details are given by Mrs. 
Smith : 

With the assistance of our grandfather's negroes 
and the neighbors, our cabin was "raised" and was 
soon ready for occupancy. Our grandfather's stock 
of household goods, as has before been stated, was 
opened to our mother for a frugal supply of the 
necessary articles, especially bedding and tableware. 
Our thoughtful mother made this the occasion for 
adding to our live-stock a flock of geese, from which 
our feather-beds — indispensable articles at that time 
— were to come ; these, with the straw under-mat- 
tresses, often renewed, furnished beds that were 
both soft and comfortable, and our new cabin be- 
came a thing of joy if not of beauty. We moved 
into it in 1835. Our latch-string was thenceforth 
out again; and many were the little parties, candy- 
pullings, and companies of various kinds that gave 
joy to the place. 

Our cabin consisted of one large room, twenty 
feet square, and a kitchen of the same size, with an 
entry between the two to make it comfortable and 
convenient. Usually the kitchens were built about 
twenty or thirty feet from the "house" ; why I do 

^Mr. Heard was the father of Hon. John T. Heard, now of Sedalia. 




GEORGE R. SMITH 
Aged circa Thirty 



HIS GEORGETOWN HOME 33 

not know. Our dear little mother always had her 
kitchen near the ''house," as she was vigilant in 
overseeing the proceedings of both the kitchen and 
the house, and being very delicate could not endure 
exposure. The house was built of hewn logs, with 
neat white-lime pointings between. It was unplas- 
tered at first; but the floor was covered with fresh 
rag-carpeting as soon as Aunt Rachel, our grand- 
mother's weaver, could weave it for us ; and a large 
white crumb cloth, made of ''Osnaburg," and fre- 
quently washed, was lightly tacked over the carpet, 
under the table. When a big roaring fire sparkled 
in the capacious fire-place, the little room seemed to 
us luxurious as a king's palace. In the evening when 
the supper cloth had been removed and we four 
gathered, in the mellow light of the candles, around 
the table in the middle of the floor, it was a picture 
for an artist ; and when the trundle-bed was drawn 
from its hiding-place under our mother's bed, and 
we knelt with her to say our prayers, our little 
cabin became a sanctuary. So the dear little room 
was as well adapted to all the functions of life as a 
large modern house. 

Our smoke-house, hen-house, and stables made 
up the requirements for outside buildings. I must 
not forget to mention the "bed-bench." This was 
a frame about fifteen feet square and two and 
one-half feet high, with broad, heavy planks or 
''slabs" laid over the top of it. On no account was 
anything to touch the ground, so exacting was our 
mother's idea of neatness. There the carpets were 
shaken and the bedding aired ; and what a time we 
had hunting for stray moths when the woolen 
clothing was brought out before being put away for 
the summer. 

There were no stoves then in our part of the 
country, but the great open wooden-chimneyed fire- 



34 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

places, in which roared and blazed harmlessly- 
splendid flames that leapt from a mass of burning 
coals, served in "the house" for warmth and good 
cheer, and in the kitchen for the old-fashioned cook- 
ing that was done by the darkies in heavy cast-iron 
ovens, skillets, and frying-pans. On ** johnny cake" 
boards, made of wood, delicious cakes were baked 
by simply setting them in front of the fire. In using 
the ovens for baking bread, the coals were drawn 
out on the broad stone hearth, and often a blaze 
of burning brush was built on the top of the heavy 
lid or cover ; whilst back in the smoke and heat of 
the chimney hung the crane, always ready to do 
duty when a big boil was on hand, whether for 
dinner or a clothes-washing. 

About the same time that Mr. Smith established 
his family at Georgetown, his brother-in-law, Men- 
tor Thomson, settled on a large farm southwest of 
the town. Thus the Smith-Thomson connection 
made quite a colony. They visited among each 
other, were hospitable to all comers, and as the 
children, Marion and Melcena, grew up they were 
sent away to a school at Boonville, taught by Mr. 
Chinn. So the foundations were laid of a commu- 
nity in and about Georgetown which was charac- 
terized by prosperity and happy associations ; and 
thus this region became a desirable location for the 
emigrants who followed. Speaking of the growth 
of the community, Mrs. Smith writes : 

It was in 1840 that my grandfather built his new 
brick house at Elm Spring, just in front of the lit- 
tle cabins which he had first erected. He had al- 
ready planted a fine orchard and established a grist 



GROWTH OF THE SETTLEMENT 35 

and saw-mill on Muddy creek. Before this the peo- 
ple had to send their corn forty miles to mill, or else 
grate it on tin graters — none but those who have 
tried it can have any idea how delicious bread is 
made from meal grated in this fashion. My grand- 
father also built a covered bridge over the creek 
near the mills, and was helping to make the wilder- 
ness blossom as the rose. Georgetown, in the mean- 
time, was improving. Two brothers, Watson and 
Clifton Wood, brought their dry-goods store up 
from "Pin-hook," and with their familes located in 
the town, adding greatly to the social and religions 
life of the community. 

In charming fashion the sketches from which 
these quotations have been made continue, with 
their description of the Hfe of this region in the 
thirties and the forties. No better setting than is 
here afforded can be found for the life and acts of 
those times. The hand that holds the pencil, it is 
true, is a loving one, and the scenes depicted are 
viewed through the glorifying mists of fond recol- 
lection and filial affection. This does not rob the 
picture of its value, but enhances it rather, for it 
insures to the scenes described insight and under- 
standing. And the narrator is not blind to the som- 
ber shadows which he on the landscape; — she does 
not fail to observe the shortcomings and the sins, 
alas ! of that time and that community. 

Of the physical discomfort and suffering that too 
often attended the good cheer of pioneer life, a de- 
scription is given : 

When our people first reached Missouri, there 



36 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

were no physicians nearer than Arrowrock or Boon- 
ville, and no way to reach them except by a lonely 
horseback ride of twenty-six miles to the one and 
thirty-eight miles to the otlier. There was a great 
deal of malaria then, though we did not know it by 
that name. The whole family, one by one, and some- 
times two, four, or six at a time, would be down 
with chills. By heroic measures the attacks might be 
made less vigorous, or the monster for a time kept 
at bay ; but usually we carried the disease latent in 
our systems. It would apparently let its victims go 
for a while, only to arouse itself with greater force 
than ever when they were least expecting it. Then 
it would shake them until their chattering teeth, 
quivering limbs, and rolling eyes would make you 
think a very demon had possession of them. When 
it had spent its strength it would leave them pros- 
trate and weak from very exhaustion. In spite of 
all they could do, people went about sallow and pale, 
showing that the monster malaria had the better of 
them. 

In our father's drawer there were always fa- 
miliar bottles of quinine and the little paper pack- 
ages of calomel, with accompanying medicine scales. 
In our mother's cupboard was a rival collection of 
bunches of dried boneset, rue, mint, nervine, hoar- 
hound, lobelia, ipecac, and rhubarb. These were the 
remedies of different schools, and it was a question 
which was the safer, and should have the ascend- 
ency. Quinine administered by home talent was 
perhaps the remedy most used in mild cases ; though 
the herbs named above — 'Tndian remedies" as they 
were styled, from the so-called Indian doctors who 
used them — were grown with the greatest care in 
every prudent housewife's garden. Often we were 
compelled, by our grandmother or mother, to drink 
quarts or gallons of these bitter teas ; until we would 



AGUE REMEDIES 37 

be forced to disgorge. Then the chill or fever would 
generally surrender ; and a fine, much-desired 
"sweat" would lull the patient into a refreshing 
slumber, from which he would often awaken cured. 
Stomach cleansed and fever gone, a fine appetite 
usually followed, which would do the rest of the 
healing. But often the chills and fever were obsti- 
nate, and would assert themselves periodically for 
months. The dread disease was no respecter of 
persons, and attacked black and white alike. The 
negroes — bless the memory of their child-like help- 
lessness ! — were always getting sick and coming to 
*'Mistis" (our grandmother) for a little boneset tea, 
and going back from her sweet sympathetic face 
comforted and strengthened for the shadowed life 
of hopeless servitude before them. 

When there was a case of serious fever to contend 
with, and a doctor became absolutely necessary, a 
man had to be dispatched on horseback to Arrow- 
rock on the Missouri river, for Dr. Sappington or 
Dr. Penn. The despondent were always relieved 
when these men entered the door, for they were very 
successful, and we yet bless their memories.^ Final- 
ly our fame and the report of our needs reached our 
neighbor States, and we began to have accessions 

1 The following prescription for fever, given by Dr. Penn about 1848, is 
not without interest : " Twelve grains quinine, 2 grs. opium, 6 grs. cam- 
phor, made into 12 pills. Upon an attack of chills and fever give one 
pill every two hours until three or four hours before the chill comes on ; 
then give them every hour, together with sage or snake-root tea. In 
bilious fever, after the stomach and bowels have been evacuated, give 
one pill every three hours, regardless of fever. When there is a violent 
attack, give two or three doses calomel, commencing the pills after suf- 
ficiently reducing the patient or the disease. If much sickness at the 
stomach upon the attack, give an emetic, then purge. If the fever is 
very high, give a teaspoonful sweet spirits niter combined with the 
same quantity of paregoric, every three hours, in one-half teacupful 
warm tea, dispensing with the pills until the fever is a little subdued by 
the febrifuge." 



38 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

from the medical and law schools of Kentucky and 
Virginia. Dr. Wilkins Watson, a man noted for 
culture and skill in his profession, came with his 
family — a wife and two sweet little girls — and set- 
tled among us in 1838. He was a native of the Old 
Dominion, but had graduated in Cincinnati. There 
was a wide field for his services, as climatic fevers, 
pneumonia, and pleurisy were becoming very com- 
mon. Some time after, other systems of medicine 
began to be represented by various people — Dr. 
Morse of the Botanic, and Dr. Snoddy of the Eclec- 
tic schools. We had now many interesting families 
who had moved in from various places, and society 
began to take on an aristocratic air. About 1841 or 
'42 the family of Dr. Spedden came. They were re- 
fined people, and contributed no little to our society. 
They were Episcopalians and had no sympathy with 
the prevailing religions of the place. Drs. Spedden 
and Watson had all they could do in the neighbor- 
hood attending the sick. Dr. Watson's home was a 
social center, for all knew and loved him as their 
physician, and his good wife, a sweet gentle woman, 
and his two daughters, made all welcome. 

With reference to travel and taverns, and the 
festivities which group themselves about public 
houses of entertainment, the narrative continues : 

I must not forget to mention good old Captain 
Kidd, who presided over the only hostelry there was 
in Georgetown. We had no stages, nor other means 
of transportation for travelers than horseback ; and 
our mails were carried in the same slow and unsatis- 
factory way. The captain's visitors were generally 
of the equestrian. The obscurity of our coun- 
try, and the absence of large cities made travelers 
very rare ; but people were communicative, and in 



TRAVEL AND TAVERNS 39 

half an hour after a visitor had been received and 
the horse ''taken," the entire story of his intentions 
was known. Curiosity, or it may be interest, made 
each side mutually inquisitive and confiding. Woe 
betide a reticent man ! He was at once suspected 
and became a proper object of scrutiny. The cap- 
tain was a good man ; and he and his estimable wife, 
and their eight charming daughters, made a happy 
resort for the young people on public days. Barbe- 
cues and protracted meetings ; parties, balls, etc. ; 
" 'lection days," — those afflictions that had to come 
to all towns, like whooping-cough and measles to 
children, and which usually meant brawls and 
fights ; — all were managed by that dignified pair, as 
well as the most exemplary citizens could desire. 

The churches and religious life of the new com- 
munity are also described. The Baptist church 
which is mentioned was apparently the first church 
of any denomination organized in Pettis county, and 
was established some time prior to 1834. It be- 
longed to the "Hard-Shell" or "Anti-Mission" 
branch of the Baptists, a division that had separated 
from the main body of the denomination about 1827. 
The peculiarity of its doctrine was the acceptance 
of the ultra-Calvinistic view of a limited atonement, 
and of unconditional election and reprobation, from 
which followed the uselessness of all missionary en- 
terprises, of Sabbath schools, and of education for 
ministers. It may also be stated that the impressions 
derived by Mr. Smith in his boyhood days from 
Elder Stone were reinforced by the preaching in 
1842 of Elder Allen Wright, under whose minis- 
trations Mrs. Smith and the elder daughter united 



40 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

with the church ; and later, in 1847, of Elder Samuel 
S. Church, both ministers of the Christian denomi- 
nation. In 1847 Mr. Smith and his younger daughter 
were also baptized into that communion. 

When we first came to Missouri there was a Bap- 
tist church, consisting of about twelve members, 
who worshipped in a log * 'meeting-house" about a 
mile north of Georgetown. It was presided over by 
a divine of the appropriate name (if a little face- 
tiousness is admissible on such grave subjects) of 
Wolf. My Uncle Major and my grandmother were 
both members of that church ; and it was pleasant, 
even in the rude way in which it was practiced, to 
find some effort toward worshipping the Eternal 
Father, and to have some one who felt himself 
specially called to minister to the dying and to lay 
away the dead. 

About the year 1842, Allen Wright came to 
Georgetown from Springfield, Mo., and held a 
series of meetings. He interpreted the Bible in har- 
mony with the ideas of Alexander Campbell. Elder 
Wright was a man of great force and won many fol- 
lowers. He was a fine expounder of this new-old 
Gospel, and won over a large portion of the com- 
munity from their prejudices. At first many came 
to scoff, but were convicted under the overwhelming 
eloquence and earnestness with which he told the 
story of redemption. His voice was, indeed, like 
John's preaching in the wilderness, when he showed 
that Christ was more ready to forgive and to re- 
ceive, than they were to ask ; and that there was no 
need for ''miraculous experiences," sights, visions 
and dreams, such as were claimed by the old-fash- 
ioned Baptists ; and that the moment a sinner was 
convicted of sin, Christ with open arms was ready 
to receive him, and there was no necessitv for 



MINISTERS AND CHURCHES 41 

wrestling with our crucified Savior. Elder Wright 
was in the habit of coming to Georgetown from 
time to time to preach in the court-house, beginning 
the services generally at ''the early lighting of a 
candle." He would continue his meetings for per- 
haps two weeks, baptizing in the primitive mode in 
Cedar creek, north of Georgetown. A church or- 
ganization was effected w'hicli was reinforced by Dr. 
Ferris, George W. Longan, S. S. Church, Dr. Hop- 
son, and others. A number of my grandfather's 
children and grandchildren were converted ; but he 
himself, although an attentive listener, a constant 
Bible reader, and most exemplary in his character, 
never made a confession of religion. 

Between the years 1848 and '50, Mr. Marvin, a 
Universalist minister of great talent,, came to 
Georgetown, and, with his fascinating doctrine led 
many from the faith. He was eloquent, elegant in 
manner, and delivered his captivating theme with so 
much earnestness, it is no wonder that many were 
convinced. He plead for a higher life based on the 
motive of love instead of fear. My grandfather 
loved to hear him, and it was thought that he em- 
braced the doctrine without saying so to his family, 
who looked upon Universalism as being in direct 
disobedience to the teachings of the Bible. One or 
two of his children openly avowed their faith in the 
universal salvation of men. 

Despite some positive injunctions in the State 
constitution, little was done for the cause of popular 
education by Missouri prior to 1854. As early as 
1839 a general school law was passed, providing for 
a system of ''free schools," for which funds might 
be derived alike from the State, county, and town- 
ship, and from voluntary contributions ; but the 



42 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

amount of these funds was small. A prejudice, in- 
deed, lingered in many quarters against schools that 
were denominated "free." What higher education 
was to be had in the State was furnished by a few 
denominational colleges, and by such academies for 
young men and for young ladies as the bounty of 
the citizens established. Primary education, too, was 
provided for in the main by voluntary contributions ; 
and the picture given by Alexander Campbell of 
"the round-log school-house, with its paper win- 
dows and its squalid urchins grinning over their 
monotonous and uproarious A, B, C," may be taken 
as typical of the condition of the usual schools of 
Missouri at the close of the first half of the century.^ 
The school furniture consisted of long backless 
benches, made of inverted puncheons mounted on 
legs, and of wide planks fastened to the wall for 
writing desks ; while of educational appliances and 
apparatus there was an almost total lack. The sub- 
jects taught were of the most limited range, and "the 
highest aim of the youth of the common schools in 
the pioneer days of Pettis county," it is said, "was 
to write a fair hand, spell orally, and solve mathe- 
matical puzzles.^ 

The locality in which Mr. Smith settled was 
rather more fortunate, with respect to education, 
than most of the interior counties. The first teachers 
of Pettis county seem to have been men of ability 

'^ Millennial Harbinger, for 1853, p. 72. For a detailed description of 
frontier scliools, and a defense of the method of learning lessons aloud 
see Drake, Pioneer in Kentucky, pp. 141-177. 

' History of Pettis County, p. 320. 



SCHOOLS 43 

and character. George Heard was the first teacher 
of the county, the second being Mr. Smith's 
brother-in-law, Milton Thomson. Of the efforts to 
secure some provision for higher education, Mrs. 
M. E. Smith writes : 

Our father's admiration for intellectual culture at 
that early day, when his surroundings were so ad- 
verse, shows the energy of the man and the aspira- 
tions of his nature. With whatever native talent for 
public speaking he had, he endeavored to promote 
the cause of higher education. He urged the im- 
portance of having schools in which the higher 
branches might be taught in our own town. He be- 
gan his efforts as early as 1836; but at that time 
nothing came of it. He was obliged to see his chil- 
dren growing into womanhood without the advan- 
tages that he deemed necessary. By his own efforts, 
so far as his busy life outside would permit, he en- 
deavored to remedy this defect ; and the quiet home 
hours with wife and children were spent in paint- 
ing such enchanting pictures of literature, art, and 
science, that we were led to attack with hearty good 
will the pages of ancient and modern history, over 
a row of barrels which served the double purpose 
of a cellar for our fruit, and a desk for the young 
ideas that were vainly struggling toward the light. 

Something of the interest which our father took 
in the cause of education may be gathered from the 
following fragment of a speech, which was found 
among his papers after his death. It was probably 
delivered about 1840. It reads as follows, begin- 
ning in the middle of a sentence : 

". . . will all soon crumble into dust and 
nothing be left of the shattered and dilapidated re- 
mains to tell to whose memory they were erected. 
Not so with our enterprise. We by our efforts this 



44 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

day perpetuate in the hearts of countless generations 
the noble and patriotic actions that stimulate us to 
the enterprise ; we elevate the human mind from 
things trivial to things of importance ; we establish 
the everlasting dominion of literature and of civili- 
zation ; we alienate the affections from vice, from 
sin, from worldly lucre, and place them upon our 
God ; we elevate the soul and gladden the listless 
hours of the desponding. We bequeath a rich inher- 
itance to our children, and by them it will be trans- 
mitted from sire to son, from mother to daughter, 
through countless ages, until the last trump of the 
archangel shall sound announcing that time shall be 
no more. Beyond this, fellow citizens, I will not at- 
tempt to go, save to remark that wiser heads than 
mine have supposed we occupy here only the prepar- 
atory department in the grand college that meets 
above, and according to the progress we make here 
our stations will be assigned us there ; if so, when 
the dark curtain shall unveil the still darker reali- 
ties of eternity upon us, the welcome plaudits of 
'Well done, thou good and faithful servant,' may be 
awarded to us. Fellow citizens, no possible contin- 
gency can present itself to my mind that the whole 
community should not with one voice unite in de- 
fence of the cause we this day plead. 

"To the ladies, we say we expect your undivided 
co-operation. In times of yore, the literary acquire- 
ments of your sex (and it is too much the case now) 
were treated as stanch pedantry or vain pretensions. 
The literary acquirements of your sex have been 
stigmatized as inconsistent with domestic affections 
and virtues which constitute the charm of society. 
Abundant homilies have been read upon your amia- 
ble weakness and sentimental delicacy, upon your 
timid gentleness and submissive dependence. By 
these prejudices mothers have been denied the 



SPEECH ON EDUCATION 45 

power of instructing their children ; wives have not 
been permitted to share the intellectual pursuits of 
their husbands. And [it was taught] that most 
women had no character at all beyond that of purity 
and devotion to their families. These times and 
these things are passing or have passed away. The 
prejudices which dishonored the sex have yielded 
to truth. Wherever polite literature has cast its 
beneficial influence upon society, there woman's in- 
fluence is felt. It is to you we appeal ; it is directly 
your sex we wish to elevate, in doing which — ours 
being so indissolubly connected with yours — our 
progress will be in the same ratio. Fashion has not 
excluded you from the society of the learned be- 
cause we were accustomed to regard you as inferior 
in intellectual importance. Your literary attain- 
ments w^ere not expected to equal theirs ; heretofore 
you have only been permitted to sip at the Pierian 
fountain, whilst we could drink deep and slake our 
thirst. This is not the only occasion we have sought 
your influence wdien ours had failed. Your example 
can do more than perhaps you are aware. We court 
your influence, we expect your co-operation. Your 
smiles, your approbation will cheer us on, in our 
effort to strengthen and adorn your minds with in- 
tellectual graces, to give to your voice the music of 
enlightened and eloquent discourse, clothe your 
mind with dignity, grace your soul with the en- 
chanting notes of literature and knowledge. Then 
man wall approach you with profound respect ; he 
will not enter your presence till he can be assim- 
ilated to your attributes. His mind will of necessity 
be elevated to your principles, give purity and ele- 
gance to his manners and language, that he may 
taste with you the refined joys of knowledge. It is, 
fellow citizens, to quote the language of another, on 
the platform of female education where the moral 



46 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

lever must be placed to move the world to a more 
elevated orbit of intellectual and moral glory." 

After many years of effort, he finally secured the 
co-operation of a few citizens in the project of estab- 
lishing a female academy in Georgetown. He 
would call meetings of the trustees every week or 
two to consider the best ways and means of fur- 
thering the project. A charter of incorporation was 
obtained in 1841. By a deed which bears date May 
19, 1845, h^ donated two acres of land in the south- 
ern suburbs of Georgetown for the site of the acad- 
emy, besides which he gave money. A few others 
subscribed to the enterprise, and the work of build- 
ing was begun. The structure was of brick, and it 
progressed as far as the completion of the walls 
and the roofing in ; then the generosity of the people 
relapsed, and the building stood idle a few years, a 
monument to our indifference and our poverty. 
Finally the building and ground were put up at sale 
by the trustees, and our father bought them. He 
then had the building finished for a residence and 
moved into it in December, 1849. 

In January he hired a teacher from Boston, 
Miss Munroe, and used one of the rooms as a 
schoolroom for ourselves and a few other girls. 
So in 1850 "the academy," as it had always been 
called, was both occupied by our family and 
used for a school. A merry winter it was for us 
girls and our young teacher. She was a bright, 
beautiful young woman of twenty-three years, con- 
scientious in the highest degree, but full of fun and 
merriment. She and her pupils were diligent dur- 
ing study hours ; and she always opened the morn- 
ing session of the school with Bible reading, prayer, 
and the singing of a hymn. In the evening and dur- 
ing the recesses of the day, when the weather was 
too inclement for out-door exercise, one of the farm- 



THE FIRST PIANO 47 

hands — a Spaniard whom our father had brought 
from Santa Fe, where he was freighting — would be 
called in with his violin, and the large schoolroom, 
with its chairs set back, would be used as a dancing 
hall. In this amusement our amiable teacher was 
our leader, as well as in our studies ; and our 
father and mother, though they were both earnest 
professors of Christianity, w^ere so far from being 
averse to innocent enjoyment for their children, that 
they encouraged by their presence this delightful 
pastime. 

Of the advent of the piano into their household, 
the following description is given : 

In those days the only piano in Georgetown was 
that possessed by Dr. Watson, whose two daugh- 
ters, who were educated at Boonville, were for that 
time beautiful players and singers. There was in 
addition an instrument made by an ingenious local 
cabinet-maker which, with its peculiar harmony, 
adorned the little cottage of Mr. Dorrell D. Fear. 
Our father's ambition led him on one of his business 
trips to St. Louis in 185 1 to buy a piano, which was 
brought up the river by boat as far as Jefferson 
City. He there hired a wagon and brought it 
through the muddy roads over a journey of sixty- 
five miles to Georgetown. His purpose was kept 
from the family, and the carrying out of the project 
delayed him several days beyond his usual time. 
The mails were tardy, but we tried to suppress our 
uneasiness and keep cheerful. He had often been 
delayed in his return, and almost always arrived 
after midnight ; so we tried to flatter ourselves that 
all was well. But at last, not being able longer to 
stand the anxiety, my sister and I had our horses 
saddled and started out, hoping to meet him. We 



48 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

tried to talk cheerfully as our horses plunged 
through the mud, but our real feelings must have 
been revealed when the sight of a slowly-moving 
covered wagon was discovered approaching in the 
distance, its wheels digging deeply into the mud. 
Our suspense increased as we neared it, not know- 
ing what might be in store, and we lapsed into per- 
fect silence. Before we were near enough to dis- 
tinguish our father under the shadow of the cloudy 
sky and the cover of the wagon, his great cheery 
voice of greeting reassured us ; and when he ex- 
plained that a piano was behind him in the wagon, 
our joy was unbounded. Our dear mother's delight 
may be imagined when, in addition to finding our 
father well and happy, the explanation of his delay 
was made. The colored man Henry, and others, 
were called, and the ponderous burden became an 
article of furniture and of delight in our house. This 
was the second real piano in Georgetown and it cre- 
ated a sensation. The young girls in the little school 
began the study of music. But the enterprise so 
happily begun was destined to an early decline ; for, 
in a short time, Miss Munroe had to return to Bos- 
ton, and the happy associations were broken up. 
There was now no teacher for us, and the academy 
lapsed into a home. Thus our hopes again were 
baffied, but the piano remained a joy forever. 

The life in the new country was in many respects 
very primitive, though good cheer and wholesome 
pleasure were mingled with toil, privation, and suf- 
fering. Kindliness and helpfulness characterized 
the community, and there was all the inspiration 
that goes with the building up of a new country. 
But amid the harmonies of that life a discordant 
note would often sound and an ominous chord be 



SLAVERY 49 

struck. Death came, with its heartaches and sor- 
row. Mr. Major, a choice member of the original 
little colony, fell a victim to typhoid fever ; and not 
long afterward his daughter Vienna sickened and 
died. But, sadder than the inevitable passing from 
their circle of loved friends and relatives, were the 
shadows cast by slavery, drink, and their attendant 
evils. 

In the midst of the fancies and visions that sur- 
rounded our simple lives like a halo, making the fu- 
ture wholly bright [continues our chronicler], the 
ominous clouds that we failed to see, or seeing did 
not know how to avert, gathered about us. One of 
these was slavery, which brought luxury, almost 
princely life, to us even in our cabins, because we 
were exempt from the drudgery of labor, and 
had really nothing to do except to look after the so- 
cial amenities and to see that the slaves were duly 
cared for and made to work. It is melancholy to 
remember, as the thought now obtrudes itself, that 
Uncle Toby, Uncle Jack, and other gray-haired men 
and women, as well as the younger ones, were com- 
pelled to have written permission to leave home, and 
would come even to me, a little child, when the older 
members of the family were too busy, to give them a 
written pass to go to town. The law of the country 
was to keep the patrol out for the purpose of detect- 
ing negroes who might leave home without a pass ; 
and all, the good and the bad, had to obey. When 
the officer would meet a negro, he would always 
demand his pass. The date and name of the master 
were carefully noted, so that if any duplicity was 
practiced they would find it out, arrest the negro, 
and send him home. The negroes often had Satur- 
day "evenings," as the afternoons were called, in 



50 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

which to do a Httle work for themselves ; and what 
they made during this time they could sell and so 
get a little money. For money, however, they had 
little need, as they had no opportunities for higher 
life. Our Eden was nursing the serpent slavery, 
which was whispering a syren song into the ears of 
pride and luxury, but which at no distant day was 
to fill our country with the blackness of despair. 
Our young men had nothing to do and our young 
women had no aim in life except marriage, and it 
was considered almost a disgrace to be an old maid. 
Twenty-five years of maidenhood constituted an old 
maid; and thirty years cut her off from hope, hap- 
piness, and respectability. Slavery was conducive 
to indolence and immorality. God has so ar- 
ranged this life that if we are bread-eaters, we must 
be bread-winners ; each individual for himself, must 
earn his bread "by the sweat of his brow." If he 
does not have to make his money, he can sweat a 
little over its expenditure, — a no less arduous task, 
if properly and conscientiously done, than the 
making of it. 

Other clouds were drink and tobacco-using. Our 
little hamlet very soon had its "grocery," where to- 
bacco and whiskey were among the staples dealt 
out. Our politicians and influential men of the coun- 
try indulged in both freely; and on election days, 
whiskey would flow like water, and our sturdy 
men would sometimes wallow in the mud like swine. 
The two political parties then were the Whigs and 
the Democrats, the latter prevailing largely. As 
time went on, the two elements warred with one 
another; different issues came up in the political 
field, and our little district, apparently pure at first, 
began to contribute its quota of evil to the world. 
The preachers were preaching and the good people 
trying, after their fashion, to bring their children up 



DRINK AND TOBACCO 51 

in the way they should go ; but slavery, tobacco, 
and whiskey were doing their demoniacal work ; and 
so it went on. Men were intoxicated, murders com- 
mitted, and shadows fell darkly on the brightness 
of many lives. So our little community followed in 
the wake of other civilizations. The evil multiplied ; 
God seemed to have deserted us. The auction of 
humanity, and drunkenness were making their 
sorry record. It was against the law to educate the 
negroes. . . . Let us draw the veil. 

Intelligence and slavery can not exist together. 
The one enforced wrong of ignorance compels the 
other. But the homes of the slaveholders, to the 
superficial looker on, often seemed happy. The ig- 
norant creatures, with no aim in life, could have no 
ambition. The masters were usually humane, and 
there was often real affection between master and 
slave — very often great kindliness. There were 
merciful services from each to the other ; there was 
laughter, song, and happiness in the negro quarters ; 
but it was the happiness of ignorance. It was an 
edifice founded upon sand, — an unnatural condition, 
— and the violation of God's law brings its own ret- 
ribution. The house was toppling ; it had to fall. A 
picture of greater beauty lies nowhere in my child- 
hood memory than the one at my grandfather's 
home. The older negroes had their comfortable 
houses, where each family would sit by their own 
great sparkling log-fires. The younger negroes were 
engaged, in the day-time, at the work of their mas- 
ter, while the children out in the sunshine laughed, 
played, and frolicked their time away. Like the 
lilies of the field, they were all without thought 
for food or raiment ; indeed, of raiment they often 
had but little! They sang their plantation songs, 
grew hilarious over their corn shuckings, and did 
the bidding of their gracious master. Their doc- 



52 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

tor's bills were paid; their clothing bought, or wo- 
ven by themselves in their cabins, and made by their 
mistress ; their sick nursed ; and their dead laid 
away, — all without any thought or care from them- 
selves as to expense. 

To the unthinking it seemed a happy picture ; but 
where was the justice and where the mercy in such 
an aimless life ? The one people with no thought ; 
the other thinking only to keep the former in sub- 
jection. Perhaps it was God's plan to elevate the 
negro ; who can tell ? But the fruit was ripening, 
the time of the harvest was approaching. Our 
young men, — whom God made beautiful, and to 
whom he gave the power to grow into his likeness 
by deeds of mercy and humanity, — rapidly fell into 
debaucheries. Our colleges often turned them out 
from their walls dissipated. Our young farmers, 
not having the advantages of free schools, were 
ignorant and immoral. Society was on a false basis, 
and there was a sad want of honesty between men 
and women. Our young women, kept by the strict- 
est surveillance from all opportunity for evil, were 
also shut off and out from usefulness and opportu- 
nity for work. Sunbonnets, veils and gloves were 
worn to protect the complexion. They were too 
modest to sing or read in public ; and speaking or 
praying before an audience would have been breach 
of decorum. Reticence, modesty, and virtue formed 
the triple crown of a true and noble woman. They 
were kept in ignorance of the responsibilities and du- 
ties of womanhood, and were encouraged to be deli- 
cate and absurdly modest. They were simply toys. 
Innocent, beautiful, frail in girlhood, they were re- 
quired to face the gravest problems of life as the 
wives of unreasonable and dissipated men. Many 
w^ere the sweet young girls into whose dear faces 
my memory now looks, who with the trust and in- 



POSITION OF WOMEN 53 

nocence of babes, gave their hands in marriage to 
these roues, and whose hearts and Hves were 
wrecked, and whose premature aging and often 
death alone gave to the world the unwritten and 
unspoken agony of their lives. The slightest suspi- 
cion condemned a woman ; but a man's barefaced 
immoralities were condoned, and he was received 
into the most elegant families, though known to be 
secretly immoral. 

The public roads leading from our town often 
witnessed the spectacle of prominent men reeling 
on their horses as they rode to their homes. Fortu- 
nately, there was no drunkenness in our family, and 
to us a drunken man was the embodiment of all that 
was terrible and awful. 

One of our intelligent farmers, at the close of 
''election day," was found to be too much intox- 
icated to keep on his horse. He was a man well-to- 
do, hospitable, genial, and sensible when sober. As 
the night was cold and dark, our father told his 
neighbors to leave him until morning at our house 
as they passed. He failed, however, to get to us 
first with the explanation ; and when we saw three 
or four men bringing in the body of a man, we were 
very much frightened. We knew enough of drunk- 
enness to be afraid of it. One of the bearers came 
to the door (which we had carefully and emphat- 
ically locked when we saw them coming) and said 

that old man was going to stay all night. We 

told him tremblingly to take the man to the kitchen ; 
and when our father came, he was shocked to see 
his old friend sitting with our negroes in a stupor 
by the kitchen fire. He explained the matter to us, 
had the doors opened, and brought him in ; where he 
was fed and cared for until the next morning. When 
the effects of the whiskey had passed off, he was 
(with some secret chagrin, let us hope) as much of 



54 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

a gentleman as anybody; and I suppose felt and 
tried to act, as he neared his home the next day 
where his wife, children, and negroes awaited him, 
as though he were living up to the full stature of a 
man. For it was no disgrace then to be besotted 
with whiskey, if chance or good friends prevented 
criminal conduct while drunk. 

General Smith was an ardent advocate of temper- 
ance. Among his papers is the draft of a speech 
which he delivered in 1843 ^^ ^ meeting to form a 
temperance society. In this he draws a vivid picture 
of a delicate wife turned out into the winter's cold 
by a drunken husband, and exhorts parents by their 
love of their children to further the movement. 
"This," he continues, alluding to the picture he has 
just drawn, "is no fancy sketch. A thousand, yes, ten 
thousand of such instances have occurred, and who 
among you can tell but this may be the case with 
your daughters. Is there then no appeal to you, you 
who sacrifice no pleasure, no wish? I know it is 
frequently argued that for me to join a temperance 
society is idle ; / am not in the habit of drinking ; / 
do not crave it ; indeed, / do not even think of it un- 
less some friend invites, and then only quaff the 
nectared poison to pledge my friendship to a friend. 
Fellow citizens, remember that he whose haggard 
look, whose bloated cheek, whose tottering tread, 
whose palsied limbs, whose loathsome and detested 
form announce the drunkard in his most detested 
shape, once too, like you, cared not for the accursed 
drop. ... Go visit the dungeons and the cells 
in your prison houses, . . . ask what has 



A TEMPERANCE SPEECH 55 

brought them there. . . . The answer perhaps 
in ahnost every case is, Intemperance. Your exam- 
ple, then, fellow citizens, is everything; and who 
amongst you here would not join this society if by 
doing so you could avert the impending demon's 
grasp from one of your children, from one of your 
relatives, or from one of your acquaintances — or, in- 
deed, from any fellow being? . . ." 



CHAPTER IV 

BUSINESS : THE MORMON WAR I POLITICS 

(1835-1844) 

Business ventures — The Mormon war of 1838 — Appointed 
brigadier-general of militia — Political affiliations — Un- 
willingness to compromise his views — Elected justice of 
the peace, 1836 — Unsuccessful canvass for the legisla- 
ture, 1836 and 1840 — Whig rejoicing at the election of 
Harrison — Application for federal office — Effect of Presi- 
dent Harrison's death — Appointed receiver of public 
moneys at Springfield, Mo., by President Tyler — His re- 
lations with Tyler managers — Removed from office by 
President Polk. 

In the life of this vigorous young community — a 
life sound and healthy at the core, though tainted 
with the plague spot of slavery and its attendant 
ills — the subject of this narrative played a conspic- 
uous part. In a new country where men are not 
hampered by the burdens of monarchical courts, 
hereditary aristocracies, and official priesthoods, the 
stimulus given by equal opportunities is such as 
naturally leads to the absorption of the mass of men 
in a struggle for wealth, as a means of social and 
material betterment. In the case of Mr. Smith a pe- 
culiar incentive was given. His father-in-law, Gen- 

56 



BUSINESS VENTURES 57 

eral Thomson, was throughout Hfe a practical, en- 
ergetic man of business, trying his hand in turn or 
simultaneously at paper-, grist- and saw-milling, 
land speculation, contracting for government sup- 
plies, stock and produce shipping, — all in addition to 
his regular farming operations, and all attended with 
a good degree of success. Mr. Smith, too, from his 
early manhood actively engaged in business ven- 
tures. After energetically starting the farm hands 
in the spring, he would leave the farm work to his 
overseer, and his activity would find vent in some 
broader and larger enterprise. "It was a standing 
joke among his neighbors — and was true," says 
Mrs. Smith, ''that he had to buy feed for his cattle 
and family every year. Nothing daunted by this, 
he would try again the next spring, with the same 
results." 

Even before moving to Missouri he undertook one 
speculative venture, floating a lot of produce, in 
183 1 or 1832, in flatboats down the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi rivers, and disposing of it at Pensacola. 
After settling at Georgetown, Missouri, as we have 
seen, he was a partner in the contract for building 
the court-house ; and though this was largely from 
public-spirited motives, the successful completion 
of the work is a mark of sound business capacity. 
In 1836, he acted as agent for his brother-in-law, 
Manlius V. Thomson, of Georgetown, Kentucky, in 
purchasing pork for the United States navy yards. 
In 1839 h^s correspondence with the same person 
shows that they were jointly engaged in business in 



58 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Columbia and Nashville, Tennessee. In 1840 he 
engaged with several partners in a venture to sup- 
ply with provisions the Indians who had just been 
transported from further south to their new reserva- 
tion in Indian Territory ; and he took a large drove 
of hogs from Pettis county through the unsettled 
country to Fort Gibson, where they were disposed 
of at a good profit. At various times in the next 
eight or ten years we find him in similar specula- 
tions, — shipping pork and other provisions down 
the Mississippi river, seeking beef and pork con- 
tracts from the government, sending mules to the 
New Orleans market, and buying land-warrants is- 
sued to Mexican War volunteers. 

Truly American in this respect, he was equally 
American in his disregard of his personal business 
considerations when higher issues were in question. 
This trait he exemplified, on a small scale, in the 
miniature civil war which broke out in Missouri in 
1838 — the so-called ''Mormon War," whch resulted 
in the expulsion of the Mormons from the State. Jo- 
seph Smith, the "Seer, Revelator, Translator and 
Prophet" of this faith, had settled with his follow- 
ers, in 1 83 1, in the western part of the State, near 
the town of Independence. They had been driven 
thence, in a couple of years, and had then settled 
north of the Missouri river in Clay and Carroll 
counties ; and from this region again they had been 
forced, and had settled in what became Caldwell 
county, where they built a town called Far West. 
In this and adjoining counties they are said to have 



THE MOR^ION WAR 59 

opened two thousand farms ; and the most conserv- 
ative estimate places their number in Caldwell 
county in 1838 at four thousand persons, the whole 
population of the county being not more than five 
thousand. A thinly disguised hostility — founded in 
part, it was said, on the desire of some of the Gen- 
tiles to get possession of the Mormons' lands — con- 
tinued to mark the relations of the two parties, until, 
in 1838, the attack of an armed mob (according to 
the Mormons' view) or of a sheriff's posse, in ex- 
ecution of due process of the courts (according to 
the Gentile version), precipitated an armed conflict. 
Once begun, the conflict was made the occasion to 
expel the Mormons entirely from Missouri soil. 
The militia was called out by Gov. Boggs ; the Mor- 
mons resisted, and at first gained some slight suc- 
cesses. Then a proclamation was issued calling for 
volunteers from central and western Missouri ; and 
in the face of the overwhelming numbers against 
them, the Mormons were obliged to surrender their 
arms, give up their leaders for trial, and withdraw 
from the State. 

Blame for the outbreak of the struggle must be 
shared in fairly equal parts by ]\Iormon and Gentile ; 
but the tenets and practices of these "Latter Day 
Saints" were so obnoxious to the people of ^lissouri 
that, when the struggle was once begun, a wave of 
enthusiasm for the war swept over the State. In 
central Missouri the response to the call for volun- 
teers was particularly marked. In Pettis county a 
company of cavalry was raised, and in this Mr. 



6o LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Smith enrolled as a private, refusing any higher 
post. The company twice marched to Carroll county 
and back, and endured some hardships ; it was not 
engaged in action, for the Mormon surrender took 
place the very day the Pettis county troop arrived in 
camp. The company was kept under arms for a 
month, after which it was disbanded. In order to be 
better prepared for future emergencies, Gov. Boggs 
reorganized the state militia ; and George R. Smith 
was offered and accepted the position of Brigadier- 
General in command of the troops of Cooper, Ben- 
ton, Pettis, and Saline counties. This organization 
was largely due to the fear that the Mormons would 
not quietly abide by their agreement. Though this 
fear proved groundless the militia organization was 
kept up for many years, meeting regularly on the 
''muster days," which not only served as occasions 
for drilling the troops, but as a means to facilitate 
social intercourse among the farmers of the sparsely 
settled country. It was from this commission in the 
State militia that Mr. Smith, in accordance with 
Southern custom, was given the title of General by 
which in after life he was universally addressed, 
both in public and in private. 

General Smith's absorption in business did not pre- 
vent him from taking an eager and an active inter- 
est throughout life in political matters. By charac- 
ter, early training, and marriage connections alike, 
he was a liberal, if not a radical in politics ; and we 
find him adhering, in every contingency, to that one 
of the two parties which, under various names, has 



MADE BRIGADIER-GENERAL 6t 

always represented the more liberal, nationalizing 
element. At first a National Republican, he became 
a Whig when that party arose. When the Whig 
party broke into pieces on the slavery question, he 
became a member of the American or "Know 
Nothing" party. And when palliatives failed and the 
inevitable conflict came, he became a Republican in 
the later sense. Judged from the standpoint of prin- 
ciple, his political career was singularly consistent 
throughout. At every epoch he stood for a broad 
interpretation of the constitution ; for a strong na- 
tional government ; for a policy favorable to banks, 
internal improvements, and manufactures ; and for 
the Union as against the States. 

Col. Richard M. Johnson — who, for more than a 
score of years was Representative and United 
States Senator from Kentucky, and was in 1837 
chosen by his colleagues of the Senate to be Vice- 
President with Van Buren — was a relative of Gen- 
eral Smith's wife, and lived on an adjoining farm in 
Kentucky. Mr. Smith was well acquainted with Colo- 
nel Johnson, and the story goes that just before the 
migration to Missouri, Johnson, who was an ardent 
Democrat, said to Mr. Smith : "Now, George, when 
you go to Missouri, if you will only turn your coat, 
and get on the right side of politics, you may one 
day become President of the United States." ^ This 

^ An anecdote told by one of Mr. Smith's early school-fellows and 
comrades shows the young man's relations with the Johnsons, and at 
the same time is interesting because of its allusion to a once-famous 
poem. "When he [Smith] was acting I think as deputy sheriff of Scott 
county," says this informant, " R. J. Ward, a lawyer, legislator, etc., a 



62 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

admonition, half serious, half jocular, no doubt, 
Mr. Smith indignantly resented. The story well 
illustrates his positive character, especially where 
principle was concerned. It was in large part this 
unwillingness to deviate one inch from what he con- 
sidered to be the path of political probity in the ad- 
vocacy of unpopular views, that cost him again and 
again the suffrages of his fellow citizens and led to 
his passing his life in comparative political ob- 
scurity. 

In 1836 Mr. Smith was elected justice of the 
peace, and the same year he was the candidate of the 
"Old Line Whig Party" to represent Pettis county 
in the legislature. Charles E. Cravens, the sitting 
member, was his opponent ; and as the Democrats 
outnumbered the Whigs two to one in the county, 
Cravens was successful, though Mr. Smith made a 
spirited and creditable canvass. In the presidential 
campaign of 1840 — in some ways the most remark- 
able one that our country has ever experienced — 
General Smith took an active part. In order to keep 
his party organization intact, though with little hope 

nephew of Col. R. M. Johnson and a very popular young man, gave a 
card and wine party during a term of court to all the lawyers, etc. 
George was invited ; it was in the days of our youth. One Emmons was 
present, who had recently published a poem extremely eulogistic of Col. 
Johnson, to whose coat tail he was hanging. G. S. became very deeply 
interested in a game he was playing for amusement, and forgetful of his 
surroundings (many of the Johnsons being present) as he threw a card, 
exclaimed: ' Rumpsy, bumpsy. Colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh,' quot- 
ing from the poem of Emmons a sentence all were familiar with. So kind 
was his heart, so far was he from a willingness to wound those whose 
hospitality he was enjoying, he could scarce forgive his inadvertence." 
(John Allen Gano, Sr., July i6, 1881.) 



POLITICAL VIEWS 63 

of being elected, he again undertook to make the 
race for representative. As in the former contest, 
he was defeated, though now as before, his personal 
popularity and effectiveness as a public speaker en- 
abled him to run ahead of his ticket. 

Of the plans conceived and expectations enter- 
tained by the Whigs at the national capital, as the 
presidential election of 1840 drew near, Mr. Smith 
was apprised in the following letter, dated Washing- 
ton, January 28, 1839, from Col. James H. Birch, 
one of the Missouri members of Congress : 

You will have seen from the papers that but little 
business of general interest has, even as yet, been 
transacted in either house of Congress, the sub- 
treasury defalcations and the manner of renewing 
the official connection between the government and 
the "monster" [United States Bank] having occu- 
pied almost as exclusive attention within as without 
the walls of the Capitol. To compensate, in some 
degree at least, for this dearth of mere law-making, 
the Whigs have reason to congratulate themselves 
and the country that never in the history of the gov- 
ernment has the triumph of an opposition been more 
signally exemplified, nor the waning prospect of an 
administration more unerringly denoted, than in the 
manner of appointment and subsequent composi- 
tion of the Swartwout committee. Having every 
desirable facility for obtaining reliable information 
from the most eminent political sources and circles, 
I feel authorized to repeat that enough is known 
already to arouse and startle the honest-minded 
of all parties, and of itself to cause the overthrow of 
a dozen administrations having no stronger hold on 
the moral sense of their constituency than this one 



64 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

has — ^particularly when the official development, 
which I have no doubt will be wisely evolved and 
spread before the country, shall place it beyond the 
power of the Globe or its allies to gainsay or fritter 
them away. 

If, however, anything were still wanting to ren- 
der more certain and indubitable the displacement 
of the corrupt and the corrupting banditti who have 
gotten hold of the government, it is gratifyingly 
furnished in the gradual abatement of the appre- 
hensions heretofore founded on an anticipated 
rivalry between the respective friends of General 
Harrison and Mr. Clay. 

It is now very generally conceded by the intelli- 
gent and reflecting portions of every personal di- 
vision of the opposition, that sound policy but con- 
curs with strict justice in indicating a magnanimous 
and strenuous effort in favor of rendering to the 
former distinguished citizen the honor, and to the 
country the advantage, of the single term to which 
he has publicly restricted his period of magistracy. 
Than Henry Clay himself, no man in the Union will 
be more advantageously availed of the successful 
fulfilment of this purpose. I have heard him and 
seen him with the other giants of the Senate, and 
while all things considered I regard him as the 
ablest and the noblest of them all, I am not only 
certain that his time is not now, but that it will 
as surely arrive in '44 as that General H. will judi- 
ciously administer the government during his term, 
and thus commend a continuation of Whig policy. 

Mr. Rives of \^irginia, and Mr. Talmadge of 
New York, are severally and most prominently 
spoken of in connection with the Vice Presidency, 
and as the Conservatives are now fully and fairly 
allied with us (at least so far as concerns the ejec- 
tion of Mr. V. B. and the defeat of his leading 



ELECTION OF HARRISON 65 

measure) it is perhaps but evincing a proper spirit 
of reciprocity that the selection of the second of- 
ficer be made from their ranks. Mr. Rives being the 
more eminent and able man of the two, and being 
withal a slaveholder, the propriety of presenting 
at least as acceptable a ticket as our adversaries in 
reference to this interminable excitement will be 
too apparent to permit any hesitation as to the most 
proper selection. 

The news of the election of Harrison caused 
widespread rejoicing among the Whigs ; for it was 
their first presidential victory, indeed the first elec- 
tion to that office for many years that had been 
carried by any candidate of broad-construction and 
nationalizing views. The sentiments of the Smith- 
Thomson connection may be gathered from a letter 
from Manlius V. Thomson, with whom Mr. Smith 
was usually in full political harmony. "On the 
subject of politics," he writes from Kentucky, Jan- 
uary 18, 1841, "I think it must be admitted that we 
have given the 'Loco-Focos' [Democrats] the most 
awful drubbing that any party ever received, just 
about such a one as they deserved. You can't imag- 
ine how tame they are in Kentucky, especially in 
the neighborhood of the Great Crossings. Certain 
people are now quite polite to me, who were wont 
to be quite distant and cold. They even acknowl- 
edge I am kin to them." 

Success achieved at the polls, efiforts were at 
once made to procure the spoils of victory. General 
Smith first comes into this movement late in No- 
vember, 1840, as the recipient of a circular letter 



66 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

from the Tippecanoe Club of Howard county, urg- 
ing that the Whigs of Missouri, in behalf of Colonel 
J. H. Birch, the chairman of their State Central com- 
mittee, try to secure for him the position of Commis- 
sioner of the Land Office at Washington. This was 
expected to prove ''one of the most effectual means 
of appropriating and improving the victory, even 
in Missouri," as it would materially assist the lan- 
guishing Whig cause in that State by placing "the 
club of Benton in our hands." The letter was 
sent to General Smith's individual address, rather 
than to that of the local Whig organization, "as well 
to avoid the espionage of the post-office, as from 
the conviction amongst the friends of Colonel B. 
that it could not be sent to any gentleman in your 
county, more likely to give it that necessary and 
prompt attention and direction, without which its 
object, and our object, may be defeated." 

Mr. Smith was already on terms of political in- 
timacy with Colonel Birch, as is evidenced by let- 
ters received from him during the years 1839 ^^^ 
'40; and he willingly furthered the latter's applica- 
tion by all the means that lay within his power, as 
is shown by the following letter : 

FayeUe, December 3 [1840]. 

Dear General : Returning yesterday evening, I 
met your most kind and flattering letter "per Judge 
Brown," and regret that the hurry and complexity 
of my engagements will not permit me to write you 
a long and "good letter" of thanks for the past 
and promises for the future. Surely no man has 
better, more indulgent, or manly-minded friends 



POLITICAL CORRESPONDENCE 67 

than I have "the State over" ; for I have met with 
nothing but kindness and co-operation in reference 
to this design of associating me with the adminis- 
tration at Washington. BeHeve me, my dear friend, 
a recollection of this, and a desire, which has now 
ripened into a passion, to see Missouri throw off 
the bad men who have trodden on her for years, 
will stimulate me to be "more than myself" in what- 
ever department of the public service may be made 
acceptable to me. 

Be pleased to make to General Thomson my most 
grateful acknowledgments for the kindness and 
confidence implied in his letter to General Harrison ; 
and add that the service will be complete if, when 
I am in that position in the administration in which 
my opinions will be called for in reference to men 
and measures in Missouri, I may have, from time 
to time, the preliminary advice of such men as he 
and yourself. I shall expect this, particularly, in 
reference to all local appointments. In reference 
to you yourself, personally, I hope I need not pro- 
test my readiness to serve you — in any proper 
manner. 

Your kindness in showing the letter of the club 
here to General Thomson, and his kindness in 
writing to the President, suggests the practicability 
of your being able to serve me still further in a 
similar way. Many of the letters I have are from 
gentlemen in different parts of the State to their 
friends in one or the other House of Congress, in 
speaking of and urging my association with the ad- 
ministration in such terms and by such arguments 
as are dictated by their feelings and their judg- 
ment. You may have some such friend, General 
Thomson may have some, and numerous acquaint- 
ances may have such. Such letters, as they will 
evince the strength and generality of the desire of 



68 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the Whigs of the State, will go far to sustain me 
against any rivalry with which I may meet. Will 
you be good enough to turn your eyes a little in that 
direction? Let any letter you may procure to be 
written to members be sent direct to Washington, 
and be kind enough to advise me, by letter to that 
place, who has been written to, and by whom. Let- 
ters to General Harrison will be surest to reach him 
at Cincinnati. I believe I have already said that I 
shall start in ten or twelve days, taking Cincinnati 
and Frankfort in my route. If you have time, I will 
be pleased to have a line from you before I start. 
Very truly, your friend, 

J. H. Birch. 

Into the contest for office, Mr. Smith himself en- 
tered. More than two years before, he had written 
to his Democratic friend and former neighbor, Vice- 
President Johnson, asking his influence to secure 
the position of Receiver of Public Moneys, or of 
Register of Land Titles, at Fayette, Mo. In both 
particulars his application had failed, owing to the 
reappointment of the incumbents ; otherwise, wrote 
Colonel Johnson, "it would have given me pleasure 
to have recommended you for either office." Now 
that his own party was in the ascendency, he again 
sought office, and joined his fortunes to those of 
Colonel Birch. The following passage from a letter 
of Manlius V. Thomson, under date of January i8, 
1841, illustrates the efforts made by General Smith 
in response to the foregoing letter, and the pros- 
pects at that time entertained of their joint success: 

Colonel Birch passed through here about the first 



POLITICAL CORRESPONDENCE 69 

inst. and I gave him seven or eight letters to Mr. 
Clay and our other members of Congress. So far 
as my influence can go, it shall be exerted on his 
behalf to the fullest extent. And in so doing I 
suppose I am promoting the views of yourself and 
Morton in reference to the land offices spoken of. 
He has concluded to prefer his claims to be Com- 
missioner of the General Land Office, and in case 
of his appointment (which I think is quite prob- 
able), I judge you can have matters pretty much 
your own way in regard to the offices which you 
desire. 

I have not written to General Harrison, Mr. Clay, 
or anyone else in reference to your wishes on the 
subject, because it is understood that General Har- 
rison is decidedly displeased by such early solici- 
tations for office, and consequently I should have 
injured your cause by writing to him. Besides, 
there is no use in writing to Mr. Clay and others on 
the subject until they can approach the President 
advantageously. When the proper time arrives, I 
will write not only to General Harrison, but Mr. 
Clay, Mr. Crittenden, and others who will probably 
be able to exert some influence in your behalf. It 
would be well for pa to write to General Harrison, 
too, as he is fond of his old comrades in arms, and 
especially those of Johnson's regiment, who were 
disposed to do him justice in the late canvass. I 
know that he recollects pa well, because he made 
inquiries of me about him and I told him where he 
lived, what his politics were, etc., etc. You had 
better write yourself to John J. Crittenden, too, as 
you were well acquainted with him, and he will 
probably remain at Washington as Attorney-Gen- 
eral. I do not doubt he would promote your views 
with great cheerfulness. Let all your letters reach 
Washington about the first of March. 



70 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Webster will be Secretary of State, Ewing Post- 
master-General, the other Cabinet ministers not yet 
certainly agreed on. Mr. Clay will take no office, 
but will remain in the Senate for a year or two, 
for the purpose of adjusting the tariff, passing his 
land bill, and establishing a National Bank. He 
will then retire and be a candidate for the succession. 

President Harrison's death just one month after 
his inauguration carried with it the downfall of 
many hopes, and seriously affected those of Colonel 
Birch and Mr. Smith. 

When Tyler succeeded to the presidency it be- 
came a question what his attitude would be toward 
Whig measures and Whig party rewards. What 
that actually was, is well known ; but as illustrating 
the effect of the change on Mr. Smith's prospects 
of securing office, the following letters may be cited : 

The first is from M. V. Thomson, and is dated 
February i8, 1842: 

Soon after I reached home, in the month of 
September, I renewed my solicitations to the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, Mr. Crittenden, Governor 
Morehead, and others, in reference to your views 
about the land office at Springfield, and when I left 
in the month of October for Mississippi, I had not 
received any replies to my letters. Indeed, I have 
never yet had an answer from any of them except 
Mr. Morehead, who informed me that Tyler had 
wholly separated himself from the Whigs, and that 
neither he nor any person who held to the true Whig 
faith could exercise any influence with the Presi- 
dent or heads of departments, or procure the ap- 
pointment of any friend to an office. Efforts were 



TYLER AND THE WHIGS 71 

made as long as it was thought they would do any 
good, and then the President was given up with 
contempt and scorn. Since the date of your last let- 
ter, and since I have been at Frankfort, I have made 
another effort to get you the Springfield office 
through the agency of Judge Underwood and C. A. 
Wickliffe. I wrote to Underwood myself, and got 
Colonel Hodges of this place, who has always been 
a particular friend of Wickliffe, to write to him. 
Judge U. writes me that he fears he can do nothing 
for you, as he is not in favor at court ; and Mr. 
Wickliffe has not replied at all. The Judge will, 
however, do what he can, but candor compels me to 
say that I think the case rather hopeless. Neverthe- 
less, I shall continue to look after the matter and ac- 
complish your object for you, if possible. 

The second letter is from John Wilson, one of the 
regular Whig leaders of Missouri in this period; it 
is dated at Fayette, August 4, 1842 : 

I am at home again [he writes], after an ab- 
sence of eight months. I have, of course, lost the 
run of political aft'airs in our State. Indeed, from 
all I see it were better so to be at present, both as 
to State and national politics. Things are all going 
to the d — 1 ; as to whose fault, that is a different 
question. I spent much time last summer and fall 
at Washington during the fiercest contest for polit- 
ical ascendency ever fought in the Union by the 
leaders of that contest. I was an eye-witness, in 
fact to a slight degree an actor. I gave all my 
aid, until the second veto, in favor of a reconcilia- 
tion of the Whigs and the President ; that desirable 
result would have been effectually secured but for 
a coup de main of the Locos in going in a body to 
worship (as it appeared) him. He being a weak 



72 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

and vain old simpleton, this made him believe that 
he was the first of mankind ; and from that day he 
resolved on a course, as self-willed as it is dishon- 
orable, of leaving his friends who placed him there ; 
and thereby has rendered himself not only a dis- 
grace to the station which he fills, but dishonorable 
to him as a man; and when he has found out that 
both parties scorn such a traitor, he recklessly ad- 
ministers the government on principles more dis- 
honest and disreputable than has any other man in 
the nation. I am glad to learn that there is some 
probability (for I fear it is only probability) of 
your getting the land office at Springfield. If I 
can serve you in any way in the matter (except 
going to the President — for that I would not do, as 
I consider him a knave), command me. You know 
I have not been a very strong Clay man for years, 
although as to Mr. C.'s leading measures I am and 
always expect to be with him ; but now I see no 
other man around whom the friends of a National 
Bank and tariff can so well rally, and therefore 
I am for Clay. I have objections, and one of the 
most prominent is that he is grown very absolute 
and dogmatical, from long abuse. His patronage 
will, too, go into the hands of personal friends, so 
I believe, and these are strong objections to any 
president. But then the country is now destroyed, 
and will so remain if we get not a bank and tarifif; 
and therefore as he is in my opinion most likely to 
succeed on these measures, I am for him, or any 
other good Whig who shall be taken up by the 
Whigs. I do not write to engage you in politics ; 
for if you get that office, as I hope you will, it will 
be not only your duty, but I am sure also your in- 
clination, to cease to meddle in elections. 

In spite of the unfavorable prophecy in his broth- 



PROSPECTS OF OFFICE 73 

er-in-law's letter — colored doubtless by partisanship 
for President Tyler's chief antagonist, Mr. Clay — 
General Smith's prospects, as they turned out, were 
by no means hopeless. On June 14, 1841, before 
the breach between the President and the Whig 
members of Congress had become irreparable. 
Col. J. H. Birch was able to write Mr. Smith from 
Washington that circumstances continued to ''jus- 
tify the belief that everything I have recommended 
will be done — but as to how I am to come out my- 
self there is probably more doubt." And again, 
under date of August 29 — not many days after the 
veto of the first bank bill — the same correspondent 
wrote from Fayette as follows : 

As it was "all arranged" in reference to your ap- 
pointment as Register at Springfield before I left 
Washington, I have looked for its official announce- 
ment every mail, and can only account for the delay 
on the ground that many older nominations have 
not yet been reached by the Senate. So it is ; you 
may regard it as certain, together with all the other 
nominations I made to the President. In reference 
to yourself as well as the others, I did not hesitate 
to assure him that you would not embarrass him in 
the contingency which has been forced upon him, 
and which is so utterly repugnant to the spirit of the 
compromises at Harrisburg. I did not believe you 
were a Federalist, and that no matter what your in- 
dividual opinions might be, you would at least act 
in that spirit of good faith to others who helped to 
fight the battle as to respect such at least as were 
matters of conscience with them, tho' not with you. 
I am gratified that I have heard nothing to induce 



74 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

any regret in reference to the pledge with which 
I stand connected with the President. 

Having faithfully fulfilled every duty growing 
out of my general or personal relations to the Whig 
party or its members, I feel the less embarrassed, 
in the split which has been forced upon it, in taking 
my stand where my education, principles, and sym- 
pathies all point out ; and amongst the Whigs of the 
State I know none with whom it would grieve me 
more to differ than George R. Smith. 

For some reason — perhaps owing to the increased 
tension between Congress and the Executive which 
followed the veto on September 9, 1841, of the bank 
bill — the appointment was not at this time made, 
nor was this particular office ever given to Mr. 
Smith. The failure, however, seems not to have 
been due to any dissatisfaction with his qualifica- 
tions or politics, or to any cooling toward him of his 
political friends. Under date of December 11, 1841, 
Colonel Birch, then on the eve of a second departure 
for Washington, wrote : 

I know not how I may find affairs now in refer- 
ence to the offices at Springfield, but I write to say 
that I shall continue to assure the President that 
your appointment, besides being proper and popular 
in itself, will by no means embarrass him in refer- 
ence to the Republican measures of his adminis- 
tration. 

Soon after his return Colonel Birch wrote again, 
under date of April 20, 1842, mentioning for the 
first time the office to which Mr. Smith was eventu- 
ally appointed : 



PROSPECTS OF OFFICE 75 

Shortly after my arrival at Washington it was 
agreed that Mr. Vaughan (an old neighbor and 
friend of the President), must have the Register's 
place at Springfield, and Mr. Cady (late of the Bul- 
letin), that at Palmyra. Your own claims and those 
of Mr. Allen were under discussion for the Receiv- 
ership at Springfield about the time your letter (un- 
der cover to Morehead) came to hand. This I for- 
warded (handed) to the President, along with an 
endorsement of my own, to the effect that you were 
one of the original nominations I had made, and 
that I would again call his attention to it as the 
time approached for filling the place. This will be 
either when Campbell is nominated for Congress 
(and resigns) or when his time expires, which will 
be the 21st day of January next. At one of these 
times, or the other, if you remain as denoted by your 
letter which I handed him, you will be appointed 
Receiver. Your other letter (from St. Louis) never 
reached me. 

Whether it will be better for you to strengthen 
your application or not, I can only answer by say- 
ing that a man can not be too strong. I have told 
the President, in so many words, that you were able 
to promote the interests of his administration, and 
too honorable to accept (much less solicit, or per- 
mit your friends to solicit) an office from him, with- 
out having the concurrence of your judgment and 
feelings to do so. Unless contrariwise informed, I 
shall repeat this assurance to him when I again 
write (as promised) at the proper time. I have not 
yet deceived him in that respect, and I know you 
have too high and reciprocal a regard for your own 
and for my honor, to permit my assurance in any 
respect to be falsified. 

To the encouraging reports given by Colonel 



76 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 



i 



Birch, the following was added by his brother, Wes- 
ton F. Birch, in a letter written June 22, 1842, on J 
his way home from Washington : 

It is my decided and honest opinion you will be 
appointed. I talked to the President on the sub- 
ject. He recollected you as having been presented 
by J. H. Birch ; asked me to leave a written state- 
ment of my conversation, which I did, and handed 
to him from my own hands. He assured me he 
would give it his attention. 

When I see you I will tell you a good deal. 

In spite of the favorable prospect thus depicted, 
when the appointment was finally made it was found 
that another ^'General Smith" was named for the 
place. This miscarriage, as it turned out, was due 
to mistaken identity ; and when this fact became 
suspected, George R. Smith determined on a trip 
to Washington, in order to push in person his claims 
to some office under Tyler's administration. In this 
resolve he was supported by the advice of W. F. 
Birch, who wrote him (January 27, 1843) • ''You 
shall be let right square into all things, here and at 
Washington. I will inclose you such a letter to 
Ellis and Colonel Churchill as will make this sure." 
This promise was faithfully fulfilled ; and Mr. 
Smith's reception at Washington was satisfactory, 
as is shown by a letter from W. F. Birch, dated 
March 24, 1843 • 

I received your letter from Washington of the 4th 
[he says], in due time, and another from St. ■ 
Louis of the 19th, by last night's mail. I am truly 



APPOINTED RECEIVER yj 

delighted with the reception you met with from the 
President, and more with the answer he gave you 
in relation to your supposed appointment at Spring- 
field. It turns out just as I expected and believed 
from the first. By the mail which will leave here on 
Monday morning, being the first, I will write to the 
President in no equivocal style, and you must per- 
mit me to hope that all will turn out right. The 
President, I am sure, will do justice in this and in 
every other case, when correctly informed. 

The result of these efforts was that the office 
given the other General Smith was vacated, and 
then (April 15, 1843), General George R. Smith 
was at last given the post of Receiver of Public 
Moneys at Springfield, Missouri. 

From the foregoing letters it would seem that the 
only obligations General Smith had taken upon him- 
self in regard to Tyler were, in the first place, "not 
to embarrass him [the President] in reference to the 
Republican measures of his administration" — that 
is, not actively to oppose him because of his strict- 
constructionist interpretation of the Constitution ; 
and secondly, in a general though undefined man- 
ner, to "promote the interests of his administra- 
tion." In view of the circumstances of the election 
in 1840, these were pledges which a good Whig 
might consistently give. That election was fought 
and won by a combination of Whigs and anti-Van 
Buren Democrats (or Republicans), of whom Tyler 
was one, after a campaign in which questions of 
constitutional principle were sedulously kept in the 
background, in order that the latent differences be- 



78 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

tween the two elements might have no opportunity 
to develop. President Tyler, therefore, though far 
from presenting a heroic or statesman-like figure, 
could not be accused of bad faith in entertaining 
strict-constructionist views on the questions of in- 
ternal improvements, a bank, and a protective tariff. 
His views were what they had always been; and 
he could not be deemed morally blameworthy for 
acting on his convictions, now that chance or destiny 
had placed him in a position where some action 
was necessary. Moreover, Clay and the Whig lead- 
ers generally were clearly in the wrong in trying to 
domineer over the President as they did. Tyler was 
by no means alone responsible for the breach in the 
ranks of those who won the election of 1840; and 
it was quite possible for a good Whig so far to sym- 
pathize with the President, in the position in which 
he was placed, as to be willing to take office under 
him and pledge him that negative support to which 
alone General Smith was committed. 

This, however, was not all that Tyler's satellites 
wished to extort from Federal officeholders. Almost 
from the moment of his accidental succession to the 
Presidency, Mr. Tyler was possessed of a desire to 
secure a second term, and his political managers and 
adherents consistently set to work to achieve this. 
Col. J. H. Birch seems to have been an exception to 
the rule in this particular. Immediately after his 
own appointment, in 1843, ^^ Register of the Land 
Office at Plattsburg, Missouri, he wrote Mr. Smith 
(April 7) that he was ''determined to live within 



TYLER MANGEUVERS 79 

the spirit as well as the decency of the rule respect- 
ing officeholders" ; and that in his new office he 
would "have neither time nor inclination for pol- 
itics." 1 

The active Tyler managers, however, were deter- 
mined to secure for their chief the coveted second 
term, even at the cost of open and complete surren- 
der to the Democrats ; and to their attempts Federal 
officeholders were now exposed. 

Dr. Silas Reed, Surveyor-General for Missouri, 
wrote General Smith from St. Louis, May 20, 1843, 
as follows : 

Your letter of the 19th April came to hand some 
time since, but found me so overwhelmed with offi- 
cial duties that I put off answering it from day to 
day, until this time. In the meantime, however, I 
took care to write our friends at Washington in 
your behalf, and so also did Mr. Ellis. I had a 
conversation with the President the day before I left 
Washington (21st March) relative to you, and said 
all it was proper for me to say. I have now to con- 

^ Colonel Birch felt keenly the criticism which was passed by Whigs 
upon his political course. In a letter dated May 13, 1843, he wrote : "You 
know in the first place, that it was but natural for me to be a Tyler Whig, 
after my course on General Jackson's veto and my uniform opposition to 
any bank similarly constituted. It was fortunate, moreover, in the way 
of getting out some of the old officers and getting other and better ones 
in their places, that I did stand in the relation to the Whig party and 
also to the President that I did. Yet some of the disappointed and un- 
reflecting are (most probably) doing all in their power to prejudice Crit- 
tenden and Morehead against me, notwithstanding all I have done and 
am yet doing (in my own way) to bring about a change of things in Mis- 
souri. ... I should be deeply mortified, after having got several 
Whigs appointed to office in this State, and having several more on the 
road, to have my rejection by a Whig Senate thrown up to me by Loco 
Focos." 



8o LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

gratulate you on being appointed as Receiver at 
Springfield, which is a most important, excellent, 
and honorable office, and if I do not mistake your 
character, I think you will satisfy the President and 
his friends that his confidence is not misplaced in 
your case. I hope you will stir them up in and 
about Springfield, and do not allow yourself to feel 
under too much restraint in the expression of your 
opinions in favor of the President merely because 
you have taken office. Your own good judgment 
will determine you how far it will be proper to go. 

Let us know what the Register is about as soon 
as you become fully acquainted with his views and 
preferences. 

If the President's friends are energetic and move 
discreetly, they will secure his nomination by the 
National [Democratic] Convention in May, 1844; 
and it is best to take a conciliatory course toward 
Calhovm's and Johnson's friends, as they will aid us 
in laying Van Buren upon the shelf. 

We are, however, organizing a Tyler Democratic 
association here, and thus do all we can for the 
man we prefer, until after the decision of the Na- 
tional Convention. 

I shall be pleased to hear from you often, and 
shall now have more leisure to reply promptly. 

The following letter is from V. Ellis, who was 
editor of the Old School Democrat and a leading 
support of Tyler in Missouri ; it is dated at St. 
Louis, June 3, 1843 • 

You can form no idea of the hurry and confusion 
I am in, trying to arrange my affairs to go East. I 
have fifty letters lying by me unanswered. I will 
see Dr. R. and converse with him on the subject of 
J. D. Hogan and Colonel Thomson as agents for the 



TYLER MANCEUVERS 8i 

Sioux and Osage Indians. I can not say what can be 
done ; these are difficult matters to handle ; we must 
have patience as well as hope. 

Bear one thing in mind, that is that whilst I may 
not always find time to answer your letters prompt- 
ly, I shall always note their contents, and do all that 
can be done to gratify your wishes. I have given 
you proof that I am not idle in matters connected 
with the President's interests. If things don't go 
right it shan't be my fault. 

We have much to do in Missouri, and we have an 
artful foe to combat. Whilst our flag flies for Tyler 
and we keep his name always on our tongues, we 
must pull hard and strong for Johnson, in order to 
break down Benton. Johnson is the only man in 
Missouri who can carry this State against Van 
Buren and Benton. W^e must rally on him to help 
him to do this, and his friends will be available to us 
in the National Convention. We must go strongly 
for district elections of delegates to the convention 
at Baltimore. We must aid the Johnson men to 
elect delegates in the different counties in each elec- 
toral district as laid off last winter, to meet at some 
central point in the district and elect a delegate to 
the Baltimore convention in May, 1844. 

I hope you will be able to extend the circulation 
of the Old School Democrat so far as to give light 
to the extreme border of the section in which you 
have jurisdiction! As I am acquainted with you 
and you only in that quarter of Missouri, I corre- 
spond with no one else in the whole Southwest. I 
will do what I can toward having your lands sur- 
veyed, etc., etc. I trust to you to have a talk with 
Haden and all others in your section. 

The following extract from a letter of W. F. 
Birch to General Smith, bearing date May 29, 1843, 



82 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

may be appended by way of comment on the above 
letter : 

I hope you and Mr. Haden will make an exertion 
to circulate the Old School Democrat in the South- 
west. Generally speaking, the President's course 
is imperfectly understood, and there is no means of 
explaining it so well as by the circulation of news- 
papers friendly to his position and principles. In 
addition to this, I fear the paper is published at a 
loss, and until a large subscription can be procured 
I have not hesitated to contribute in money — deem- 
ing it proper that several and not one friend should 
meet it, as Ellis is already poor and unable to throw 
away a single farthing. 

An effort is being made to cast odium upon all 
who hold office under the President, and this effort, 
induced by an improper spirit, I intend to combat 
by circulating and defending the principles and pol- 
icy of the administration. When I do this, I defend 
my own position, and hurl back the anathemas at- 
tempted to be cast upon us all. In this I hope to 
have your concurrence. 

Under date of July 5, 1843, marked "Private," 
Ellis again wrote : 

I am glad to hear favorably from Mr. Haden. Ru- 
mor says he is a Bentonian-Van Buren man. Such 
we can not have any fellowship with. I hope you are 
not mistaken in him. Benton's days are numbered. 
Van Buren has no chance for the nomination. John- 
son will sweep Missouri and Illinois, and we must 
pull in that direction with all our power. Will Mr. 
Haden openly and unhesitatingly throw off Benton 
and go for Johnson? Johnson's friends will do 
"justice to John Tyler" when they got into conven- 



TYLER AIANCEUVERS 83 

tion. I am corresponding with him. Go with all 
your force for district elections of delegates to the 
Baltimore convention, and Johnson will help us 
break down Benton when his election comes on 
again. If we can get district elections of delegates 
we are safe. Benton will visit the Southwest to put 
things right in a few weeks. Arouse the people to 
the true consideration of his daring impudence in 
this matter ! The Representative mistrust the peo- 
ple ! That is a beautiful idea ! 

I do not know what can be done in the way of 
Indian agencies, there are so many applicants and 
so few vacancies. But communicate freely your 
wishes, and it shall not be my fault if things do not 
work right. Select Democrats in all cases, and such 
as are opposed to Benton. 

The following letter from Dr. Reed, dated Janu- 
ary 12, 1844, and similarly marked "Private," gives 
further evidence of the efforts made to force Gen- 
eral Smith into complete political subjection: 

I have at last reached your letter of the 6th Sep- 
tember last, from Springfield. It was received dur- 
ing my absence at Washington, with numerous 
others, and filed away until I should find time to 
answer it and them. My absence of six weeks at a 
time, when most of my surveyors were returning 
from the field, and when both my quarterly and an- 
nual reports were required to be made out, threw me 
back so far that I was not able to overtake my cur- 
rent business, and discharge my duty to my private 
and political friends, until the time arrived for en- 
gaging in my next quarterly report at the close of 
last month. Even now I discover in my files before 
me letters some weeks older than yours, and which 
really ought to have been answered months since. 



84 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

I dislike apologies, and my constant application 
to business ought to prevent the necessity of ever 
making any on the score of neglect or delay ; but 
really the duties of my office are so arduous that I 
can not do justice to it and my family, without de- 
lays in my private correspondence. 

I was the more anxious to write you, from the 
fact of having learned from some quarter that you 
either thought or had heard that I was unfriendly 
to you. 

This is not so. Several attempts have been made 
to induce the belief that you were a Clay Whig in 
disguise, and possessed no Democratic views or sym- 
pathies ; in short, that you were not a political friend 
of Mr. Tyler. To this I never gave ear, for the lit- 
tle I saw of you at Washington led me to believe 
that you would not stoop to the practice of duplicity, 
and that you were in reality what you professed to 
be. I still think so, and though the restless ultra 
leaders on both sides may endeavor to throw you 
overboard, I feel that you may be relied upon as an 
advocate of Old School Republicanism and a fast 
friend of our much abused and excellent President. 

I must give you a word as to politics, though you 
can gather about as much as I can furnish you from 
the Madisonian. The endorsement of the Globe 
by the House has proved an insult to the President 
and his friends, which together with other outrages 
of the Van Buren men has determined all friends of 
the Administration to have nothing to do with the 
Baltimore nominee, if he be Van Buren. The dis- 
cussions of the tariff question, and the probable con- 
summation of a treaty with Texas for annexation, 
will break down M. V. B., and tend to bring for- 
ward Mr. Tyler, as the champion of Southern and 
Western interests, and of a practical system of 
national finance. 



TYLER MANCEUVERS 85 

If the current of events this winter does not in- 
duce the Democratic party to nominate Mr. Tyler, 
I think his friends will insist upon his running as 
an independent candidate, and thereby carry the 
election to the House, an event greatly to be depre- 
cated, but preferable to the despotic rule of an irre- 
sponsible Jacobin Club. 

If Mr. Tyler will not allow himself to be run by 
his friends as an independent candidate, then they 
have only to stand still and let Van be beaten in a 
worse manner than he was in 1840. 

There is much opposition making to Mr. Haden, 
and if he is true to the President, as I believe he is, 
you must tell him to keep himself right with the 
President in case he is willing to cut loose from the 
trickery and machinery that are likely to make M. 
V. B. the nominee. 

In the meantime, I hope it will be in your power 
to aid us in sustaining the Old School Democrat 
and if possible extend its circulation in your vicinity. 

Present my compliments to ]\Ir. Haden and Mr. 
Joshua Jones, and say to Mr. H. that he is repre- 
sented at Washington as the organ of Benton and 
tne clique in the Southwest, but which I do not, of 
course, believe. 

The two letters following are of interest as show- 
ing the extent to which the President's own house- 
hold was concerned in the attempt to enlist Federal 
officeholders in support of his candidacy for a sec- 
ond term. The signature to the first letter is that 
of the President's son. The second is written on 
the same sheet with the first, and derives additional 
significance from that fact : 



86 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

(Private.) President's House, 27 February, 1844. 

Dear Sir : Accompanying this is a letter from my 
friend Mr. Abell in relation to his Life of the Presi- 
dent. The work well merits the countenance of all 
our friends. It is compiled from the public records 
and may be relied on for its correctness. It is be- 
lieved by us to be fully sufficient to refute the many 
charges made against the President reflecting on his 
personal character, and its circulation thro'out the 
country would constitute but a simple act of justice. 
Any aid, therefore, which you furnish Mr. Abell 
will be esteemed as a kindness. I wish, however, 
that you should do nothing inconsistent with your 
own sense of propriety, and hope you will regard 
the matter in a private and not a political light. 
I am, Sir, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

John Tyler, Jr. 

George R. Smith, Esq., Receiver, Springfield, Mo. 

Washington, February 27, 1844. 

Dear Sir : A life of Mr. Tyler, containing his 
principal speeches when in Congress, and other pub- 
lic papers, messages, etc., compiled from the best 
possible sources, has just been issued by Harper & 
Brothers, New York. The volume is an octavo, of 
some 300 pages, finely printed, with a portrait of the 
President, and in view of the large sale confidently 
expected is furnished by the publishers at the low 
price of $50 per hundred. Believing that it will 
give you pleasure to assist in placing fairly and 
truthfully before the people the public acts of a man 
to whose lot has fallen more of calumny and mis- 
representation than to that of any other in our coun- 
try, I have no hesitation in asking that you will lend 
your aid, and procure that also of our friends in 
your quarter, to ensure a liberal dissemination of 



SMITH'S ATTITUDE 87 

the work. Your order sent to me here for such 

number of copies as you may desire, with the 

amount of subscription, will be promptly supplied. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Alex A. Abell. 

(Note on opposite page) : Please address me under 
cover to Hon. Thos. H. Blake, Commissioner, General 
Land Office. 

It is difficult, owing to the absence of his own let- 
ters, either to ascertain General Smith's views of 
the justice of Tyler's cause, or the attitude which he 
assumed toward these overtures. On both points 
the following letter from his brother-in-law, Man- 
lius V. Thomson, indirectly throws some light ; it is 
dated October 22, 1843, froit^ Lake Washington, 
Miss., where he had a plantation: 

Your letter of the 2d inst. was received at George 
town, Ky., so shortly before I left for this place that 
I did not find time to reply. It is true as you sup- 
pose that we were a good deal disappointed at your 
not visiting us during either of your trips to Ken- 
tucky, more especially the last, as you had to pass 
us twice within a day's travel. I suppose, however, 
that your apology is a good one and that we must 
take the will for the deed, especially if you make 
amends when another opportunity offers by paying 
us a visit that shall count. 

I am glad to hear that Tylerism has made no 
progress with you, although the Captain [Tyler] 
has thought proper to give you an appointment. It 
might be well enough, however, for you to be some- 
what prudent in your expressions of disgust toward 
him before those who would report the facts to your 
injury. The Captain's time is short, but you had as 



88 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

well hold on to the end of his term, if you can. 
Colonel Benton's threat that your nomination 
should not be confirmed, will be entirely harmless 
if the matter is properly attended to. I have con- 
versed with Crittenden and Morehead both on the 
subject, besides having written sundry letters to 
them. They will both endeavor to have the nomi- 
nation confirmed. I shall write to one of them 
again about the first of December to remind him of 
the case ; and it would be well for you to do the 
same in a modest way. 

Mr. Smith was too good a Whig and too down- 
right a character not to feel strong repulsion at the 
administration's attempts to lead or force Federal 
officeholders into the ranks of the Democracy; but 
this was no good reason why he, a true Whig, ap- 
pointed after a great Whig triumph, should lay 
down his office. He continued to be a staunch Whig 
in politics, but during his continuance in office he 
doubtless acted with some of that caution now de- 
manded by the rules of the civil service. It is cer- 
tain that he continued to be recognized by the Whigs 
as one of their leaders in his section. As such, dur- 
ing the campaign of 1844, he was invited by several 
Whig clubs to deliver addresses before them ; and 
in particular he was urged, as the representative of 
his party in Pettis county, to confidential corre- 
spondence with the St. Louis Clay Club, on all 
topics connected with the Whig cause in Missouri. 

With the inauguration of a purely Democratic ad- 
ministration under President Polk, General Smith's 
tenure of office came to an end. As a Whig, his res- 



REMOVAL BY POLK 89 

ignation was at once demanded and presented ; and 
he was ordered to turn over the funds of his office 
to his successor. 

Thus closed, for the time, his career as a Federal 
officeholder. His experience was not altogether a 
pleasant one, but he had gained much from it. He 
had widened the circle of his political and personal 
friends ; he had more firmly established his leader- 
ship in his own section ; and he had gained an ex- 
perience of financial operations on a large scale. 
The future was to test the value of his experience 
and of his new political connections. 



CHAPTER V 

MAILING AND FREIGHTING CONTRACTS 

(1842 1852) 

Contracts for carrying mail, Jefferson City to Warsaw, 
and Warsaw to Springfield, 1842 — Manner of life during 
this period — The mails made tri-weekly — Extra compen- 
sation refused him — Act for his relief, March 3, 1849 — 
Further experience with mail contracts — Trip to Wash- 
ington, 1846 — Letters to his wife and daughter — Secures 
part of a government freighting contract to Santa Fe, 
1849 — Sketch of the Santa Fe traffic — Letter to his daugh- 
ter, 185 1 — Cholera in the train, 1849 — Retires from the 
freighting business, 1852. 

While he filled the position of Receiver of Pub- 
lic Moneys at Springfield, General Smith was a busy 
man. In addition to his duties and responsibilities 
in that office, he superintended the management of 
his farm at Georgetown, where his family continued 
to reside ; this necessitated frequent trips on horse- 
back between that point and Springfield. He was 
also engaged in various business speculations, and 
these, with his political aspirations, made large de- 
mands upon his time and strength in the way of cor- 
respondence. But all this proved insufficient to 
consume his restless energy. To these activities he 
added yet another, and during the whole of his offi- 
cial term, and for some months before and after, he 

90 



MAIL CONTRACTS 91 

was actively engaged on contracts with the govern- 
ment for transporting the mails. 

In 1842 he put in a number of bids for mail con- 
tracts in Missouri. Though he was unsuccessful on 
many routes, on two he proved to be the lowest bid- 
der, and was awarded the contracts. These covered 
the first stages of the newly established route from 
Jef¥erson City to Fayetteville, Arkansas. The first 
stage led southwest from Jefferson City to Warsaw, 
in Benton county, and was about eighty miles in 
length ; the second led an equal distance almost due 
south from Warsaw to Springfield, the capital of 
Greene county, where was the land ofiice in which 
General Smith was Receiver. The contracts com- 
menced on the first of January, 1843, ^^^ terminated 
on the 30th of June, 1846. The mail was to be car- 
ried twice a week and back, in two-horse post 
coaches, and the compensation for the service was to 
be $1,400 and $1,200 a year, respectively. 

The region through which these routes led was a 
sparsely settled prairie district, and several of the 
counties into which it is now formed were not yet 
organized. When General Smith made the first sur- 
vey over the proposed route he found it necessary 
to plow a deep furrow, a good part of the distance, 
to serve as a trail for his carriers ; and this line be- 
came the chief public road between the points 
named. Besides carrying the mails, the stages 
served also to transport passengers. 

Of General Smith's activity in this venture, Mrs. 
Smith writes : 



92 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

The same indefatigable energy in business charac- 
terized him in this as in all other efforts to make 
something more than the mere living at farming to 
which even the most ambitious of our citizens were 
restricted in that day, hemmed in as they were by 
the waste of country that separated them, from the 
Missouri river, by which alone they could find a 
market for their crops. And the same ardent devo- 
tion to his little family shone out, if possible, with 
more than its accustomed force during this time, 
when storm and tempest, cold and heat, day and 
night alike, might find him in the saddle, either go- 
ing to his business at Springfield or returning to his 
Georgetown home. My mother's health was frail, 
and she did not wish to leave her parents at George- 
town. With a keen sense of the responsibility rest- 
ing upon him, both in his business and domestic re- 
lations, our father braved all to be with her, regard- 
less largely of food, sleep, or comfort. While others 
slept by comfortable fires shut in from the wintry 
blasts, he was riding through dark and dangerous 
places, through wide uninhabited districts, often lost 
in the trackless prairies, over which he had to pass 
for miles and miles without a glimmer of light, ex- 
cepting at long intervals a flicker from some log- 
cabin window, or the gleam of a friendly star steal- 
ing out for a moment through broken rifts of cloud 
that hung darkly above. At such times, reaching 
home at midnight, or in the "wee sma' hours," his 
voice was tremulous with anxiety until reassured by 
the actual grasp of our mother's hand, and her voice 
telling him that all was well with herself and her lit- 
tle ones. Then shaking off the snow or the sleet 
from his heavy boots, overcoat and hat, dofling 
his leggings and the long comforter that was often 
fastened by icicles to his beard and hair, he would 
sit by the open log fire recounting in happy mood 



MAIL CONTRACTS 93 

the incidents of his trip. The dangers now were 
trifles and the trials Hght as air. Then he was a 
happy man ; and while Henry, the faithful slave, 
was attending to the jaded horse at the stable, our 
father would grow eloquent before the warm fire, 
in painting to his wife and children, aroused from 
their sleep by his entry, the better times that were in 
store for them. All toil was forgotten, and his sleep 
after such a trip would be sweet and undisturbed. 

Mails twice a week proved too infrequent, and the 
Postoffice Department was importuned, in 1844, to 
make these routes tri-weekly. This fact, and the ap- 
pearance of a rival competitor for General Smith's 
contracts, led the First Assistant Postmaster Gen- 
eral to write, under date of May 7, 1844, as follows : 

Otho Hinton, of St. Louis, Missouri, proposes to 
transport the mail on routes from Jefferson City to 
Springfield, Missouri, three times a week, at present 
pay. Notice of this proposition is hereby given in 
order to inform you, that unless you will give equal 
service without additional pay, the Postmaster Gen- 
eral will transfer the routes to Mr. Hinton. Please 
advise us of your decision without delay. 

This letter was not received by Mr. Smith until 
June 16. That same day he wrote the Department 
in reply, saying: 

I have understood before that Hinton was making 
some efforts to get my lines. Sooner than I will 
give up the line to him, I will carry it at the same 
price ($2,600) three times a week. 

This letter was construed by the Department to 



94 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

signify his consent to perform the additional serv- 
ice without increased compensation. A third trip 
each week was accordingly ordered by the Depart- 
ment, and was regularly made by the coaches of 
General Smith, from the 15th day of August, 1844, 
to the expiration of his contract with the close of 
the month of June, 1846. General Smith, however, 
did not consider that the Department had the right 
to demand, nor that he had legally consented, that 
this extra service should be rendered without extra 
pay; and he made application for additional com- 
pensation for this work, which was rejected by the 
Department. Then General Smith carried the mat- 
ter to Congress ; and finally, after much trouble and 
delay, a joint resolution of the two houses was, on 
the very last sessional day of President Polk's ad- 
ministration, passed and signed granting him the 
sum of $780 "as full compensation for carrying the 
mail once per week oftener than originally contract- 
ed by him" on the routes in question during the 
period named. ^ 

Twice again General Smith was concerned in mail 
contracts, and in each instance the connection 
brought him vexation and annoyance. In Decem- 
ber, 1850, the death of his friend and business as- 
sociate, James Brown, of Georgetown, threw upon 
him a good deal of labor in arranging for the settle- 
ment of the mail contract from Independence, Mis- 

1 House Report No. 717, 29th Cong, ist Session, Vol. IV; House Re- 
port No. 103, 30th Cong. 1st Session, Vol. I ; and Act approved March 3, 
1849. 



MAIL CONTRACTS 95 

souri, to Salt Lake City, which Mr. Brown held in 
connection with S. H. Woodson, of Independence. 
In this matter General Smith seems to have been 
concerned only as a friend of the family ; but about 
the same time he again had experience as principal 
in mail contracts. Some months before, he bid upon 
and was awarded contracts for the following routes, 
all for a period of four years : Jefferson City to 
Warsaw, 82 miles, tri-weekly; Boonville to Pisgah, 
2y miles, weekly ; Boonville to Versailles, 46 miles, 
twice a week ; Boonville to Independence, 120 
miles, tri-weekly ; -Marshall to Warrensburg, 50 
miles, weekly ; Lexington to Harrisonville, 50 miles, 
weekly ; Warsaw to Wagonsville, 80 miles, weekly ; 
Warsaw to Oceola, 28 miles, twice a w^eek. 

By the time the award was made, General Smith 
had changed his mind about the contracts for some 
reason, and did not wish to execute them ; but the 
Postoffice Department insisted that the w^ork be 
performed in accordance with the bids he had en- 
tered. He was obliged to accept the contracts, and 
apparently to execute them until he could find 
some one to take them off his hands. It was not 
until June 5, 1851, that he was rid of the last of 
them. 

In April, 1846, General Smith made a second trip 
to Washington, on business connected with his mail 
contracts. His wife accompanied him to Cincin- 
nati, where she remained for medical treatment un- 
til his return. The following letter from General 
Smith to her at that place, and her reply, are of 



96 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

especial interest for the light they throw on the 
deep and abiding affection which bound together 
husband and wife : 

Cumberland, Md., 24th April, 1846. 
My Dear Wife : 

I have just reached this place, and will take the 
cars at 8 : 00 o'clock to-morrow morning for Wash- 
ington. If I but knew that you were well I should 
be contented ; but as it is, I must permit my gloomy 
forebodings to distract me until I can hear from 
you. I had only left Cincinnati a very short time 
before I was wretched because I did not caution 
you against taking too largely of lobelia, and pros- 
trating yourself with it. You know how it affected 
you last summer. . . . Do not continue the 
steaming too long ; take it by degrees, and when you 
find that you can stand it (but of this I would be 
sure), then carry it farther. If you find that it weak- 
ens you, I would not take the steam. I think you 
will derive much benefit from riding out every day. 
Dr. Curtis can make an arrangement for you by 
which he can secure a carriage for you daily ; that 
will not cost much. I have said this iDecause I know 
you will be disposed to economize, — perhaps too 
much economy. Don't confine yourself, but take 
exercise, either on foot or in a carriage. Write to 
me every day or two and let me know how you are 
getting along. I shall be miserable until I hear from 
you. 

I had a wretchedly disagreeable trip up the Ohio. 
We left ten minutes before the Caucasian, a boat 
that has been running in opposition to the Messen- 
ger (the boat I travel on) for some weeks. It was 
a race from the instant we left until we reached 
Wheeling. Both crowded with passengers, burning 
tar, rosin, coal, etc., and raising steam as high as 



FAMILY LETTERS 97 

their machinery could bear. I expected one or the 
other to blow up every moment ; they went safe to 
Wheeling, but they will not go many trips more. 
Some accident will happen to one or the other be- 
fore they will be satisfied. You can form some idea 
of how they did, when I tell you they burnt tar, 
rosin and coal, from Cincinnati to WheeHng. It was 
said (whether true or not I do not know) that the 
Caucasian burnt several barrels of rosin. I would 
not travel on either again. 

I have had a pleasant trip over the mountains and 
a very pleasant company, — three ladies and three 
gentlemen from Lexington, Kentucky, one of them 
the Rev. Dr. Bascom, with whom I am much 
pleased. 

To-day I have meditated much upon the events 
that have occurred in the last nineteen years. This 
is the anniversary of our wedding day. Nineteen 
years ago I was by your side, happy in the enjoy- 
ment of her I prized above every human being upon 
earth; happy in anticipation of a bright and joyous 
future. Now I am on the eastern side of the Alle- 
g-hany mountains, on the head, the very head- 
waters, of the Potomac, separated by nearly i,ooo 
miles. Then I was with friends and so were you, 
you under a father's roof ; now both are among 
strangers, and separated from friends, the one 
seeking health, the other how he can best provide 
for means of administering to the wants and com- 
forts of a family. O how devoutly I pray that your 
wishes may be gratified ! 

But I must close ; it is near midnight. Take care 
of yourself, and let me hear from you as soon as 
possible. Had you not better write Solon and let 
him come and attend to you in my absence ? I want 
you to make up your mind to go to Kentucky on our 
way home; it is but a day's travel to Georgetown. 



98 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

I can not say when I will be in Cincinnati; in my 
next I will be able to inform you. Give my love to 
Marion and Ev. ; tell them to write to Betsy and 
Sarah and give them minute details of their trip. 
Until you hear from me again, I remain, 
Your affectionate husband, 

G. R. Smith. 

P. S. I am so tired after being jolted that I can 
hardly write. 

The following is Mrs. Smith's reply : 

My Dear Husband : 

I read your letter with mingled emotions of pain 
and pleasure, joy and regret. Your affectionate al- 
lusion to the day of our marriage created feelings 
altogether indescribable. Happy indeed am I to find 
that those early impressions (though too bright, too 
ephemeral to last) still retain a place in your mem- 
ory ! Delusive hope presented to your mind a cloud- 
less future, a long life of undisturbed happiness, but 
alas ! your fondest hopes were blasted, your bright- 
est prospects faded, the joyous visions of youth too 
early vanished, leaving in their stead the sad reali- 
ties of life. But should we not look upon our re- 
verses as blessings in disguise? In what better way 
could we be brought to a sense of our dependence 
upon a Supreme Being? "He chasteneth whom He 
loveth" ; should not this be consolation under all 
circumstances? Yes, with an unwavering reliance 
upon the wisdom and goodness of God, we may tri- 
umph over the darkest trial; we may rejoice in the 
hour of deepest gloom. 

I hope you will not allow yourself to suffer from 
unnecessary apprehension. We are doing very well. 
You need not disturb yourself about my taking too 
much medicine ; my fear is that I will not get 



FAMILY LETTERS 99 

enough. If you think it best to stay until the 24th of 
May, do so. 

I have not heard from the children ; expecting a 
letter daily. You must not be disappointed if I fail 
to write as often as you requested. Ev. and Marion 
are very well satisfied here ; but are willing to go 
home whenever you return. 

My delicate health is sufficient apology for this 
scribble. I know my husband will make all due al- 
lowances. Write whenever you can find time. Your 
devoted wife, Melita A. Smith. 

The following letter to his daughters gives some 
additional details of General Smith's Washington 
trip. It is noteworthy for the keen interest which 
he here manifests in the railroad and the telegraph, 
— the one just taking its first westward strides, and 
the other but new-born, — and for the affectionate 
care which he shows that his daughters may im- 
prove every opportunity for intellectual advance- 
ment and culture : 

Washington City, 26th April, 1846. 
My Dear Children : 

I promised you in my last that I would write to 
you from Cincinnati if we reached that point safely, 
but upon our arrival there I neglected to do so, for 
several reasons ; and indeed my stay there was so 
short (two days) that I hardly had time. 

We had a pleasant trip from St. Louis ; the rivers 
were in fine shape. We left St. Louis on the date of 
my letter (I wrote on board the steamboat) and ar- 
rived in Cincinnati on Sunday morning, the 19th. 
Your mother was not much alarmed and she slept 
finely. We had a large number of passengers, which 



Lof 



100 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

is rather unpleasant for steamboat or indeed for any 
kind of traveling. At Louisville we parted with Mr. 
Watkins and his sister. Upon our arrival at Cin- 
cinnati, I left the ladies on the boat and went in 
search of Dr. Curtis. I was agreeably surprised 
when I found him ; he is quite a pleasant, accom- 
plished gentleman, differing very much from all the 
steam doctors I have ever seen. He consented to 
take us in as boarders, and the ladies I left at his 
house. I am very much in hopes he will restore your 
mother. 

After dinner on Monday I hired a carriage and 
driver, and we took a ride through a portion of the 
city and out on the hills on the north side of the 
town. Here we saw some of the most beautiful coun- 
try residences I have ever seen ; our whole company 
was delighted. Upon our return we had as fine a 
view of the city as perhaps we could have had from 
any of the enormously high hills with which Cin- 
cinnati is surrounded. 

The town, as you know, is situated on the north 
bank of the Ohio and is built on the first and second 
banks of the river, forming a beautiful bottom of 
some several hundred acres of land. To give you a 
more definite idea of the town, I will remark that 
the distance to the foot of the hill from the river is 
about one mile at its greatest width. This hill lies 
in a circular form, commencing at the upper part of 
the town almost at the water's edge, and terminating 
in the same manner some distance below. The dis- 
tance from the upper point of the hill, inclosing 
the bottom to the lower, is perhaps four or five 
miles. The ground then upon which the town is 
built is somewhat in the shape of a half-moon, and 
contains a population of some 75,000 or 80,000 per- 
sons. Here are some princely fortunes, and not a 
few of them ; you may readily suppose, then, there 



FAMILY LETTERS loi 

are some magnificent buildings both in town and 
country. I think there are more fine houses in this 
place than any I have ever seen. If you except the 
public buildings of Washington City, nothing I 
have ever seen can compare with them. 

I left our company on Tuesday (all delighted 
with their domiciliation) for this place. I took a 
boat that has been racing all the season with an- 
other boat that left just as we did, and they raced 
from there to Pittsburg; I left at Wheeling. Such 
fizzing and whizzing of steam I have never before 
witnessed, burning tar and rosin and raising the 
steam as high as the machinery could possibly bear. 
It was said the boat we ran against burnt eighteen 
barrel of rosin; I suppose we did as much. I will 
never again, if I know it, travel on boats that are 
racing. One of these boats will, if they don't stop 
their foolery, blow up. 

I had a very pleasant trip over the mountains, 
traveling altogether in daylight. At Cumberland, 
on Saturday morning, I took the cars. We left at 8 
o'clock and a few minutes to 12 we were at Harper's 
Ferry, a distance of ninety-seven miles in four 
hours; pretty rapid, that. From Harper's to this 
place, no miles, we did not travel quite so fast, as 
they have a different rail ; we were six hours. Upon 
this end of the road they have the old-fashioned flat- 
bar iron, but upon the other end they have what is 
called the T-rail, taking its name from the resem- 
blance of the rail to a T. You will readily under- 
stand what the T-rail is, when I tell you that an im- 
pression made with the end of the bar, upon some- 
thing soft would leave the shape of a very heavy 
short T. 

To-day (Sunday) has been a gloomy, dark, cold, 
rainy day. After breakfast I walked up to the Cap- 
itol. Its magnificence I can not describe ; it so far 



102 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

surpasses anything I have ever seen that I have 
nothing with which to compare it; the State-house 
at Jefferson City being as a mean log-cabin hut to 
this. The pleasure grounds around it are large, in- 
terspersed with wide gravel and paved walks of 
polished stone, with marble reservoirs of water in 
which are to be seen the gold-fish that seem to be 
domesticated, and other kinds of fish. The whole 
ground is covered with trees, shrubbery, and flow- 
ers. This of itself is worth a trip to Washington, 
and as soon as you finish your education I want you 
to visit the East. But when you do I want you to be 
able to converse fluently upon all subjects and with 
the most distinguished men and women, for you will 
meet them. How important, then, that you should 
apply yourselves diligently and energetically to your 
studies. Now is the time for you to acquire infor- 
mation ; and however tempting society may be now, 
you should resolve and determine that, let others do 
as they may, for yourselves you will acquire, if in 
your power, all the knowledge that is possible for 
you to obtain. To do this you will find it greatly to 
your advantage to divide your time, apportioning 
certain hours to your books and others to recreation, 
and at least eight to sleep. Dr. Franklin said eight 
hours for sleep, eight for study, and eight for labor. 

Tell your grandpa that the whole city is full of 
mail contractors, — more, it is said, than was ever 
here before ; and what will be the result of my ef- 
forts I can not say. I have three days to make out 
my bids. I shall endeavor to learn all I can and do 
the best I can. 

Monday, 27th. — To-day I went to the Patent 
Office; it, too, like the Capitol, is a magnificent 
building, as indeed are all the public buildings in 
this place. In this office is a collection of almost 
everything you can think of, and of all countries. 



FAMILY LETTERS 103 

Here I saw the uniform worn by General Washing- 
ton, a part of his tent and camp equipage, stuffed 
skins of animals, fowls, etc., of every climate and 
country, many of which I never saw before. Some 
of the sea monsters were to me particularly interest- 
ing. Fowls of various kinds, among which are cer- 
tainly some that surpass in beauty anything I have 
ever imagined. Here, too, are the various inventions 
(models) of our citizens, from the most simple to a 
steam-engine. I also visited the office of the tele- 
graph. This invention unquestionably surpasses all 
that has ever yet been discovered, or perhaps that 
ever will be. I remember that a remark has fre- 
quently been made of the wonders of steam in anni- 
hilating space, and bringing two countries remote 
from each other almost to the same vicinity. It has 
certainly done wonders in this way, and if our fath- 
ers could rise from their graves they would certainly 
be astonished at our improverrients in this science ; 
but the magnetic telegraph is ne plus ultra of our 
age. With this, not only countries but worlds are 
brought in immediate contact ; and you could con- 
verse with an absent friend (if the lines could be ex- 
tended) as readily and almost as speedily in China 
as you could if they were in the same room. The 
estimate is that it would take the twentieth part of a 
second to communicate intelligence around the 
globe. I gave the manager my name to be sent to 
Baltimore; which he did, and the answer returned 
in less than one-half a minute. I have purchased a 
book which will give you much information upon 
this subject. 

I think I will come home in a few days. Dr. 
Watson will receive the appointment of Register at 
Clinton in the place of General Monroe. I have not 
yet heard from home since I left. 

Yours affectionately, G. R. Smith. 



104 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Before he was finally rid of the last of his mail 
contracts, General Smith had become engaged on 
Santa Fe freighting contracts for the government. 
It was, perhaps, the growth of his interests in this 
direction, demanding all of his surplus time, energy, 
and capital, that led him to seek relief from the mail 
contracts, as above related. 

The history of the traffic by the old Santa Fe 
trail between the western parts of Missouri and the 
entry ports of northern Mexico, constitutes an inter- 
esting and romantic chapter in American history. 
Beginning in the adventurous wanderings of hardy 
pioneers, undertaken almost contemporaneously 
with that expedition of Lewis and Clarke (1804- 
1806) which for the first time made known the 
newly-purchased western country to the States, it 
was stimulated to a hazardous activity by the re- 
ports of the El Dorado in the Southwest brought 
back by Captain Pike, in 1807, from his exploring 
expedition to the upper courses of the Arkansas 
and the Rio Grande. After the liberation of Mex- 
ico from Spanish rule, in 1821, the trade was put 
upon a solid foundation, and thenceforth, for a score 
of years, was vigorously carried on. The profits of 
the trader upon his calicoes, domestic cottons, hard- 
ware, etc., were great enough, even allowing for the 
very considerable fall of prices in the latter half of 
the period, amply to compensate for the hardships 
and hazards of the trip. After 1831, the dangers 
and difficulties of the Santa Fe adventurer were 
much reduced by the establishment of a clearly 



SANTA FE TRAFFIC 105 

marked trail through a better watered region, by 
the more efficient protection from Indians afforded 
by the Government, and by the better organization 
of caravans. Then came the friction between the 
United States and Mexico, growing out of the re- 
volt of Texas, leading in 1843 to a decree of Pres- 
ident Santa Anna closing the New Mexican custom 
houses. This stopped for a time the Santa Fe traf- 
fic; but the war which followed put New Mexico 
into our own hands. All customs restrictions were 
thus removed, and new demands were created for 
American goods by the establishment of garrisons 
at various points in the newly-acquired territory. 
The result was an enormous increase in the freight- 
ing business on the Santa Fe trail ; and it was in 
this, as sub-contractor for the transportation of 
government stores, that General Smith was now, in 
the period of 1847-52, to be engaged. 

In this new venture General Smith was associated 
for the greater part of the time with John S. Jones, 
a shrewd practical man of affairs, who made up for 
lack of education by his hard common-sense and his 
intimate acquaintance with frontier life. Owing to 
his wife's delicate health, General Smith was not 
able at any time to make the trip to Santa Fe in 
person. This portion of the work was usually left to 
others, while General Smith attended to the in- 
tricate financial details of the business at the Mis- 
souri end of the route. 

Early in their partnership, the new firm entered 
into relations with the great freighting house of 



io6 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Jabez Smith & Co., of Independence, Mo. ; and 
during 1848-49, Smith and Jones, according to the 
accounts of the firm preserved by the family of Gen- 
eral Smith, were sub-contractors on contracts held 
by that house. After May, 1849, ^ P^^t at least of 
their freighting was under a contract with the gov- 
ernment in the name of James Brown and William 
H. Russell, awarded April 30, 1849. ^7 i^s terms 
the contractors were to transport "such stores as 
might be given to them" in wagons from Fort Leav- 
enworth, just across the Missouri boundary in the 
Kansas country, to Santa Fe ; the compensation be- 
ing fixed, according to the published report of the 
Quartermaster-General, at $9.88 ^ for one hundred 
pounds, ''with the addition of five per cent, to the 
weight of bacon." Mr. Brown, — the same person 
for whose estate General Smith was soon to under- 
take the disposition of the Salt Lake mail contract, 
— received several government contracts for freight- 
ing to New Mexico, and on a number of these, as 
on the one described above, the name of George R. 
Smith appears as one of the bondsmen. It may be 
that in some of these contracts also General Smith 
was a sharer ; in this one, at any rate, the intention 
to divide the work seems evident from the begin- 
ning. 

The document given below indicates the share of 
Smith and Jones in the above contract : 

An agreement between George R. Smith and John 

^Compare sub-contract below, where the compensation is fixed at 



SANTA FE TRAFFIC 107 

S. Jones, entered into the 5th day of May, 1849, ^^^ 
transportation of freight from Fort Leavenworth to 
Santa Fe. The said Smith and Jones agree to divide 
the freight equally, if there should be as much as 
two hundred thousand pounds to the share of one- 
third part of the contract, the contract for freight 
being in the name of James Brown and W. H. Rus- 
sell, they having two-thirds of the freight. Should 
there be an excess, or more than six hundred thou- 
sand pounds, then the said Jones is only to have one 
hundred thousand pounds, and the said Smith the 
remainder. It is further agreed that the said Smith 
and Jones are each to be liable and responsible for 
the delivery separately to the said Brown and Rus- 
sell, and bear them harmless against any loss they 
may sustain. The said Smith and Jones are to re- 
ceive nine dollars and ninety-eight cents per hun- 
dred pounds, and each to draw his money separately 
for his own freight. 

The chief outfitting point for this traffic was In- 
dependence, a thriving town twelve miles from the 
Indian border, on the Missouri river. There, each 
spring saw gathered a motley crowd of Santa Fe 
merchants and freighters ; Rocky Mountain traders 
and trappers ; invaHds seeking health from the pure 
air and rigorous life of a prairie journey, emigrants 
to the Oregon country; and, after 1849, throngs of 
eager, impatient men, of all ranks and conditions, 
seeking "sl hazard of new fortunes" in the golden 
fields of California. In April and early in May, 
traders and wagoners began to flock into the land; 
and until the middle of May, by which date the short 
buffalo grass of the plains was sufficiently grown to 
furnish pasturage, the town was a scene of bustle 



io8 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

and active business. Not merely Independence and 
its surrounding country, but the 'Vhole State of 
Missouri, more or less," in the language of Alex- 
ander Campbell, who traveled through this region 
in 1853, was ''much enriched" by the plains traffic. 
Supplies of bacon, flour, and other provisions were 
to be laid in ; mules or oxen to be purchased and 
broken to harness ; and the wagons — great ''prairie 
schooners" made mostly in Pittsburg and covered 
with "Osnaburg" — were to be carefully loaded, each 
with its five thousand and odd pounds of freight, 
tightly and securely packed, so that the jolting of 
the rough ways might not displace the contents nor 
the storms and rains of the plains do them damage. 
Oxen or mules were used in preference to horses ; 
and eight, ten, or even twelve animals were often 
needed for a single wagon. Mules were the better, 
owing to their greater speed and endurance. The 
tender feet of the oxen suffered sadly, unless mocca- 
sined with rawhide, from the slipperiness of the dry 
grass of the plains. Many, however, preferred the 
oxen, because of their greater cheapness, and of their 
superior strength when it became necessary to ex- 
tricate the wagon from quagmires and quicksands, 
or to ascend steep river-banks, or to traverse broken 
hillocks. Beneath each wagon hung a log or timber 
for the repair of any part which might give way on 
the journey. With the exception of narrow fringes 
of timber along the streams, there were neither 
trees nor habitations of men for more than five hun- 
dred miles of the way. A water cask of at least five 



SANTA FE TRAFFIC 109 

g^allons capacity was also a necessary part of the 
equipment of each wagon, for along some portions 
of the route there was no water for many miles. 

In the early years of this traffic, the trail — espe- 
cially for the forty miles that lay between the 
Arkansas and Cimarron rivers — was but poorly 
marked ; and many tales w^ere told of caravans lost 
in this waterless waste and perishing from thirst 
and the attacks of crafty Indians. After 1834, a 
year marked even in this region by copious rains, 
the trail was cut deep and broad, throughout its 
course of 800 miles, by the wear of wagon wheels 
and countless cattle hoofs. By 1849 ^^e difficulties 
of the route were much reduced. Traders on the 
regular route were rarely molested by Indians, and 
losses of animals by theft or stampede were few. 
The way nevertheless was a long and weary one. 
The road abounded in quagmires and rough and 
difficult places ; the rivers were unbridged, and the 
fords in many places treacherous. Drizzling, pene- 
trating rains, and in some parts thunder- and hail- 
storms, were frequent. The buffalo, upon which 
dependence was placed for fresh meat, were a pre- 
carious reliance ; and everywhere rattlesnakes 
abounded, in some places in colonies of tens and 
hundreds, a constant menace to men and animals. 

The starting of a caravan called for great eft'ort 
from General Smith in person. In the following 
letter we get a glimpse of him in the midst of the 
manifold preparations which preceded and accom- 
panied the starting of such a train. The letter is 



no LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

also of interest for the light which it throws on the 
aflfectionate care of the father for his daughters, 
now become young ladies of sixteen and seventeen 
years. It is addressed to the elder daughter, at that 
time staying at Mt. Hope, Lafayette county : 

Independence, 27th April, 1851. 
Dear Bet : 

Strange as it may seem, your mother and myself 
reached this place at 12 o'clock to-day. Your 
mother is perfectly delighted with the country and 
the town ; indeed, it is enough to captivate any one. 

I have come up to make arrangements to start my 
train, purchase my oxen, etc., etc. I have set the 
20th next month to get off, but I am fearful I shall 
not be able to do so. We left home on Friday ; your 
Aunt Sarah was with Sed, and will remain until we 
return. Your mother wants you to go to Marshall, 
if you have any disposition to do so. I think it will 
be the best, for with Mrs. Hutchinson you will learn 
more than with any one else. Before we left home 
a Mr. Clark called at our house and tuned the piano, 
played several tunes, and (what I suppose will be 
encouraging to you) he said it was the purest-toned 
instrument he had seen west of St. Louis. He told 
me you played and sang for him, and that your 
voice was equal to any he had ever heard ; indeed, 
he seemed to be perfectly captivated with your sing- 
ing, and said if you would cultivate your voice it 
was equal to any one's. Had you not better do so ? 
We will leave here in the morning for West Port, 
and on Tuesday for home, where if we have good 
luck we will be on Wednesday. Your mother sends 
her love to your Aunt Marion and Mr. Gunell; my 
respects to all. I write in great haste. 

Your father, G. R. Smith. 



CHOLERA III 

The years 1848-49 were marked by a terrible 
epidemic of cholera in many sections of the country, 
especially in the more southerly States ; and from 
the visitation of this disease General Smith's caravan 
of 1849 was not exempt. The usual train of prairie 
schooners, loaded with army stores for Santa Fe, 
had been sent out in the early summer of that year ; 
and soon after leaving Fort Leavenworth, the dis- 
ease manifested itself. General Smith had not yet 
left the train to proceed on its way, after seeing it 
started, or else he was recalled when it developed 
that cholera was in the camp. At all events it was 
under his personal direction that the fight against 
the disease was made. In the weakened condition 
of the train it was impossible to continue the jour- 
ney ; the wagons were therefore corralled, and there 
the company remained until the disease had spent 
its force. In the nursing and care of the sick 
General Smith took charge, acting at once as physi- 
cian, hospital steward, spiritual adviser and chap- 
lain, all in one ; and many were the testimonies to 
his unselfish devotion and Christian fortitude offered 
by the survivors upon their return to civilization. 
From a prescription dating from this period, which 
is preserved among Mr. Smith's papers, it would 
seem that chief reliance in combating the disease 
was placed upon pills compounded of calomel, 
opium, camphor, and cayenne pepper, and injections 
of a solution of sugar of lead, laudanum, and gum 
Arabic ; this treatment, however, being supple- 
mented by the use of mustard plasters, and blister- 



112 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

ing. Whatever may be the opinion of medical sci- 
ence to-day of such treatment, only two men of the 
whole train succumbed to the disease. After two 
or three weeks, the danger was mostly past. General 
Smith had now been absent from home for nearly 
six weeks, a very unusual occurrence ; and knowing 
the anxiety to which his wife and daughters would 
be subjected by his prolonged absence, he determined 
to leave the train in charge of his manager, a Mr. 
Dan McClannahan, of Saline county, and return 
home. The strain put upon his system by the 
watching and anxiety, together with a slight attack 
of the disease itself, had been so great that he was 
left in a very weakened and debilitated condition; 
and had it not been for the fortunate meeting with a 
friend, who found him on the plains worn out and 
lying in the shadow of his tired mule, and furnished 
him with a fresh horse for the journey, the results 
of the adventure for General Smith would have been 
serious. 

General Smith remained in the freighting business 
for about four years. Towards the end of 1852, he 
decided to quit it, and sold off his stock, wagons, 
and other outfit. 



CHAPTER VI 

POLITICAL CORRESPONDENCE 
(1845— 1849) 

General features of the period — The Oregon treaty — Scott 
or Taylor for the Presidency? — The American party — 
Congressional canvass in Missouri — Smith's withdrawal 
from the race — Whig plans for the senatorship — Smith 
urged to become a candidate for Congress — Plans for 
Whig organization — Progress of Taylor movement — 
Candidates for State elections — State aid to internal im- 
provements — The late date for the Whig convention — 
Difficulty in getting Whig candidate for Governor — Con- 
gressional canvass of 1848 — The campaign for Taylor — 
Account of an interview with General Taylor — The lat- 
ter's policy — Closing scenes of Polk's administration — 
Letters from Col. Manlius V. Thomson — Campaigning 
in Mexico — The election of Taylor — Hopes of political 
preferment — Projected removal to California — Death of 
Colonel Thomson, 

The period covered by the years 1845-52 was a 
momentous epoch in the history of the American 
people. Within that period, in many lines of de- 
velopment, occurred the beginning of far-reaching 
changes. In the field of finance and industry, there 
was a general advance of the arts, due to the multi- 
plication of labor-saving inventions ; a rapid growth 

113 



114 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

of the railway system and of ocean communication ; 
the re-estabHshment of the independent treasury, 
and the "free-trade" tariff of 1846; the opening of 
new territories as a resuh of the Mexican War, 
and the discovery of gold in California — both con- 
tributing to a strong and steady drift of population 
to the West and Southwest ; and a growth also in 
the demand for Federal and State aid to internal 
improvements. In the world of politics occurred 
the peaceable settlement of the long-pending dis- 
putes with Great Britain over the Oregon boundary ; 
the annexation of Texas; the "War of Polk the 
Mendacious" with Mexico ; and a repudiation of the 
Missouri Compromise in the Kansas-Nebraska act. 
This last was both cause and evidence of a new 
stage in a stormy struggle. Political parties now 
became more sectional, and the Protestant churches, 
with few exceptions, tended to spUt asunder into 
Northern and Southern sections. 

The Whig party suffered most from these political 
changes. In the presidential election of 1844, an 
ominous lesson might have been read from the fact 
that the scale between Clay and Polk was turned by 
the 64,000 votes cast for Birney, the "Liberty party" 
candidate ; a great number of which would probably 
have been cast for Clay, but for the declaration ex- 
torted from him that he favored the annexation of 
Texas. There was thus a portion of the people 
willing to put fidelity to principle, in the matter of 
the opposition to slavery extension, above all hopes 
of party success. Consciously or unconsciously, 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 115 

these represented the spirit of Garrison when he 
said, 'T will not equivocate ; I will not excuse ; I will 
not retreat a single inch ; and I will be heard.'' 
Their importance consisted in the fact that they 
held the balance of power between the political par- 
ties. Both the old parties suffered through the 
growth of the new one ; but the net loss of the Whigs 
was greater, because the defection of Free-Soil 
Democrats was more than balanced by the accession 
of Pro-Slavery Whigs to their opponents, while the 
Whig losses were accompanied by no compensating 
gains. 

That slavery was a waning cause had not yet be- 
come apparent to the old party leaders. It was a 
difficult question, involving considerations alike of :i 
moral, constitutional, social, and economic character. 
That the average man of affairs, especially if his 
interests and associations drew him to the side of 
the South, could not foresee the inevitable struggle 
was but a natural result of his position. 

So the Whigs went their way, seeking to maintain 
a hold upon North and South alike, — condemning 
the haste, duplicity, and bad faith of President Polk 
in bringing on the Mexican War, but vigorously 
supporting it. Long before the war was ended 
they were committed to the nomination of General 
Taylor, a slave-holding hero of the war, for the 
presidency in 1848. Senators Clayton, Crittenden, 
and Mangum had pronounced Clay out of the ques- 
tion, and thenceforth it was merely a question of his 
successor. General Scott was at first the choice of 



ii6 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the political leaders; but in the early summer of 
1846 the name of General Taylor was presented by 
meetings held at Trenton and New York, "without 
regard to party limits or party questions." As he 
became more and more the popular hero, the move- 
ment spread ; and it became apparent that Taylor 
must be the standard-bearer of the Whigs, and that 
the enthusiasm which his name everywhere evoked 
must insure his election. 

In this campaign for Taylor, and in the organiza- 
tion of the Whigs in Democratic Missouri, General 
Smith, as his correspondence shows, played an 
active and conspicuous part. 

The following letter from a leading Missouri 
Whig gives the gossip of the National Capital in 
1846, the feeling over the settlement of the Oregon 
question, the relative merits of Scott and Taylor as 
candidates, the prospects of the tariff bill, the Dem- 
ocratic use of the spoils, the growth of the "Amer- 
ican" party, and the attitude which Missouri Whigs 
should take towards that movement. The relation 
of the military situation to politics should be borne 
in mind; for though the war was of Democratic 
origin, the administration was obliged to stand by 
and see its chief laurels won by Whig officers. Tay- 
lor was thought by Democrats the least formidable 
as a presidential rival, and although he was Scott's 
junior in rank, preference was given to him over 
the latter in assigning commands. General Scott 
too was betrayed by the intrigues of the administra- 
tion into writing an injudicious letter in which he 



CORRESPONDENCE 1 1 7 

used the phrase "a hasty plate of soup ;" and the 
letter was welcomed and turned into ridicule by his 
enemies. Coupled with Taylor's brilliant successes 
and freedom from objectional personal qualities, 
this served to destroy what chance General Scott 
had of political advancement. 

[John Wilson to G. R. Smith.] 

Washington City, 10 July, 1846. 
Dear Sir : 

I do not believe there is much that I can 
tell you here beyond what you may have seen in the 
newspapers. There is almost universal satisfaction 
with the treaty about Oregon. Even the ''54-40's" 
breathe freer than they did, and the fun of the 
matter is that little Jimmie [President Polk] robbed 
himself of all its glory by calling upon the Senate, 
as if saying, 'T promised to strike that fellow ; I 
wish you would hold me." They did hold him ; the 
result is, his backers brand him not only as a coward 
but a braggart traitor, and the bystanders laugh at 
him as a poltroon (in politics). The whole country 
rejoices that a perplexing difficulty of thirty years' 
standing has been so amicably settled. 

You will have seen that "a. hasty plate of soup" 
has totally put into the shade that pompous aristo- 
crat and brainless aspirant for the Presidency who 
in 1840 thwarted the legitimate views of the Whigs, 
and who ever since has been a constant thorn in the 
side of the Whig party by continually thrusting for- 
ward his vapid pretensions a la Mexique upon the 
Presidency. Thanks so far to the results of the 
Mexican war, it has enabled the Whigs to shovel 
out with the spoon one who was likely to lead them 
to certain defeat. We are united again ; for it is a 
fact, Scott was about to be taken up as a candidate 



ii8 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

when this Marshal 'Tureen" dipped his hand into 
the dish with his "enemies behind." The result has 
been glorious, for it has produced the passage of the 
act that will clear us of all these sore-toed Generals, 
by dismission at the end of the war ; which I fondly 
hope old Zack will entirely put an end to, as soon 
as he reaches Monterey. 

The tariff, you see, has passed the House ; this too 
will bring glorious results, for in the Senate all 
hands will have to show their hand for good or for 
evil. I was exceedingly afraid it would have been 
defeated in the House. The good luck that it was 
not gives me stronger evidence that Whig interests 
are decidedly in the ascendant; and such is my full 
conviction after an eight months' residence here 
v^ith pretty good chances, as you know, to find out 
jur prospects. Scott's downfall will be exceedingly 
beneficial to us ; for he was not only in our way, but 
his friends (such impudent scamps for instance as 
Col. Webb of the regular army) — nothing would do 
them but he must be at once nominated, although 
very many even of those who had placed themselves 
so as not to object still felt that it was a forlorn hope. 
Now we shall wait results, while the public gaze 
will be at old ''Rough and Ready." While the 
country is thus waiting in expectancy, results will 
present themselves, and we shall have a better 
chance to see who will make the most available 
candidate ; for depend upon it, that is the word here- 
after. We fight men who are governed by avail- 
ables in toto, and if we expect to defeat them (they 
being in power) we must use an available candi- 
date ; when in, we may then use the proper candi- 
date. Should Taylor meet with and play off an- 
other "chaparal" fight at Monterey, he will be Presi- 
dent by acclamation. If he fails to get out as ex- 
pected of him, he will not be in the way ; and my 



CORRESPONDENCE 1 19 

present impression is that Judge McLean will be the 
man. 

My own opinion is, the tariff will be defeated. 
Yet you must not suppose I have any real knowledge 
on that subject you do not possess. At most there 
is a tie, as now appears, and it is believed the '42's 
will not give way. It is known and has indeed been 
admitted here by the organ, that there is a screw 
loose in the Senate ; and you well know a single 
screw may jar the whole machinery. And a jar 
operates in favor of the tariff of '42 like the equal 
division of the court of error operates for him who 
has judgment below; so in this instance any dis- 
turbance in Loco faithfulness saves the tariff of '42. 
The suspected screws are indeed not a few, each 
particular faction pretending, and some of them with 
reason, to suspect some particular one. Cass, for 
instance, the leader of the forlorn hope of fifty-four- 
forties ; how can he get a nomination with Pennsyl- 
vania against him? And how easy it is for him to 
show that only for the wool even New York would 
be dead against the new bill. He, of course, could 
go the whole on the wool and sustain Pennsylvania 
iron, coal, etc. — Haywood, for instance. They of 
North Carolina are beginning to feel their mines 
and even manufactories are considerable now, and 
will be greatly increased. And then the war is run- 
ning us in debt, and we need all the revenue and 
more than the act of '42 will give ; and then, too, it 
is too soon to see its full operation ; the country, 
really, has rapidly thriven under it. — Yes, there is 
this singular man of the queue from Florida, who 
does not like to be thought a mere follower ; who can 
tell what he will say to it? He may go for raising 
even that of '42 till the war is over, as we ought not 
go into debt. — Then Old Bullion [Senator Thomas 
H. Benton, of Missouri], even he is suspected; of 



120 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

him it is said he must rule or ruin, and that his 
action may depend on Calhoun's course ; about 
whom already bets are offered and taken that he 
will oppose the new bill. Those who affirm this 
refer to his billing and cooing with this "great inland 
arm of the sea," this Memphis convention, roads and 
canals, — especially the gradation bill as a prepara- 
tory coaxing to his own mind that protection is at 
last the thing. And then others say, or think, this 
will depend on the fact whether Benton gets the 
control of Polk which is being very much suspected 
of late. His formidable "forty-niner" speech made 
him, it is supposed, a colossus in the eyes of Polk, 
Walker, etc., who had been staggering, blundering, 
and children-like trying to walk alone, especially to 
avoid Old Bullion ; but at last they were glad to hold 
forth their tiny hands for support to one who, al- 
though they had avoided him, was still gallant and 
condescending when thus appealed to ; and up went 
our son-in-law [Colonel Fremont, who had married 
Benton's daughter] from Lieutenant, in the engi- 
neer corps, I believe, to Lieutenant-Colonel, over 
the heads of half the officers in the army. — And 
who knows but that gallant little hotspur Hanne- 
gan, the disinterested "fifty-four-forty" man, may 
take it into his head to bury the new tariff bill, as he 
did Jimmy Polk, so deep that the hand of resurrect 
tion will never reach it? 

With all these screws thus played in the fabric, 
composed of such different and to each other non- 
conducting metals (to use a galvanic expression), 
and when common sense, the common interest of the 
country are all in our favor, there is some hope that 
the tariff of '42 is safe now, and if now, for a long 
time to come. — These Loco's, you know, are, how- 
ever, skillful compositionists, can melt down ma- 
terials ever so discordant, and by skillful tempering. 



CORRESPONDENCE 121 

by the application of government pap (and they 
have heaps of that to dispense), and therefore cool 
them down, at least to adhere for one election, ex- 
pecting the next to renew the process of melting, so 
as to produce a metal of another color, because every 
new election requires with them a new color at 
least, leaving the maw of the animal, only enlarged 
by glutinous indulgence, more capacious than before 
and more inexorable in their demands for pap. — We 
had a small evidence of this the other day in the 
Brinkerhoff Rebellion. He is one of Pharaoh's 
lean kine who, after they had swallowed the fat of 
the land, were lean and hungry still ; but after they 
made him feel the rod, due to so bold a move, they 
soon found the only way to appease Loco Foco de- 
mands was to stuff in the pap. He soon kissed the 
rod that inflicted the blow, and all was well again, 
for a time. 

I see our friends in St. Louis are pursuing their 
old folly in dividing our forces and therefore being 
beat. Our "Native" friends seem to me to have 
taken the field properly, as they already had a sep- 
arate organization ; and I think our Whig friends 
ought to have joined in their support, as they had 
nominated all good Whigs. But it seems they will 
not now. I suppose there is a screw loose there, 
and in looking out for its location, at this distance 
it is somewhat difficult to fix upon the precise one. 
Yet I shall not be surprised if our A. B. C.'s fur- 
nished a cue to its development. I am afraid there 
is too much self in these matters. — Campbell and 
Wright may be too far advanced for our A. B. C.'s 
to look with satisfaction on their growing strength. 
For me and my house I intend to go for the Whig 
party, so long as they will go for extension of the 
naturalization laws and against frauds in voting, so 
as to keep our government in American hands. If 



122 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

they desert me in this, I shall cling to American 
control of our own government. I trust you are at 
work, according to our understanding when you 
were here, to cause the Whigs of our State to adopt 
on our banners this American doctrine. It will be 
hazardous to abandon our old name. If we can get 
our old friends to go on with us, as I feel but little 
doubt they will, then our State at least will be soon 
arrayed on the American side — not as the Phi'ans, 
but as Americans ; not as religious bigots, but as 
Christian tolerants ; — in fact, to the foreigner all 
that we are ourselves, except a longer time before 
they can vote. Your friend, 

John Wilson. 

The following letter deals with the congressional 
canvass in the district to which Pettis county be- 
longed. Two candidates were in the field — Phelps, 
a Bentonian, or "hard," and Campbell, a "soft," or 
anti-Benton Democrat. The names "hard" and 
"soft" refer primarily to the currency question, on 
which Benton's position had won for him the nick- 
name "Old Bullion." General Smith at first en- 
tered the canvass as the Whig candidate, but soon 
withdrew in order to ensure the success of Phelps. 
The letter shows General Smith's standing among 
the Whigs of his district, and the hopes that had 
been entertained by his friends for his election. 

[Joel H. Haden to G. R. Smith.] 

Springfield, Mo., July nth, 1846. 
My Dear General : 

The Softs, both in the Democrat and the Whig 
ranks, consider that they have gained a great victory 
in your retiring from the congressional canvass. 



CORRESPONDENCE 123 

The Softs, you know, can outlie all creation and 
outbrag both Jews and Gentiles. They have com- 
menced lying about Phelps' votes relative to the 
soldiery of the country ; and by that stratagem 
Campbell is drawing off divers votes from Phelps ; 
and if their lies will operate on the north side of the 
Osage as much to the prejudice of Phelps as they 
seem to do here, then and in that case, had you con- 
tinued on the field, I say your election would have 
been sure and certain. But "it is as it is,^' as the 
old saying is ; and now Phelps, though he will beat 
Campbell, will not do it with such a respectable and 
overwhelming vote as he would had he beat with 
you on the field. I do insist that it is right that we 
should hold you — (when I say we, I mean the 
friends of Phelps, of both parties) — should and do 
hold you responsible to a certain degree for the 
Whig vote of Pettis and Saline ; at least to be held 
off to a large extent from Jack, if not to come on to 
Phelps. You I presume will say this is right. . . . 
Do, if you please, write me on the receipt of this 
how things are going in the two counties, between 
Campbell and Phelps ; or whether there has been 
any change to any amount since I left. 
Will you believe me to be devotedly 

Your friend and obedient servant, 

Joel H. Haden. 

General G. R. Smith. 

The following letter from Wilson shows the 
Whig plans in Missouri with reference to the sen- 
atorship, and the active part which General Smith 
was called upon to play in all Whig movements : 



124 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

[John Wilson to G. R. Smith.] 

Fayette, 27th October, 1846. 

Dear Sir : 

I am at last at home for a few days only, as I 
leave for New Orleans, between this and the loth 
of next month, for the winter. Our friends in Con- 
gress have made extensive arrangements to do their 
best between this and the fall of '48, under a firm 
conviction that a favorable result will be had. One 
part of their plan is to flood [with Whig documents] 
the country, or at least New York, Pennsylvania, 
Indiana, Iowa, A/[issouri, and Florida in particular, 
and other parts of the Union as circumstances shall 
dictate. In the State first named, they hope for 
favorable results by great exertions. In our State 
they hope (if possible) to put in a Whig Senator in 
the place of Atchison, or at the worst to replace Old 
Bullion in '51. To do this latter, it is thought it is 
necessary to commence now (at the beginning of 
Congress in December) to do all we can before A.'s 
re-election ; so that at the worst we can bring him 
to some kind of contract, if we can't beat him. To 
do this, our friends have agreed to flood our State 
with documents. To enable them to do this they 
demand of the Whig party to furnish them with 
proper names. The Hon. Truman Smith (to whom 
I believe I introduced you while you were in Wash- 
ington) is at the head of the committee of our 
friends who have this matter in charge ; and a better 
hand or a more thorough Whig or diligent man is 
not in Congress. I have promised to urge our 
friends to send to him (by the beginning of the 
session) proper names from all the counties. I now 
in part perform this pledge by urging you to see 
that a proper list is not only sent from your county, 
[but from] all those south and west of you. You 
know our leading friends in that range of country. 



CORRESPONDENCE 125 

and I do not ; therefore I apply to you, in the full 
belief you will see it done. Have I your promise? 
If I were not going to the South on compulsion, I 
would take the matter in hand and see it done if I 
had to ride nearly over the State to do it. My own 
opinion is we are too remiss in this matter ; nothing 
but the utmost diligence, and far beyond that degree 
of it ever used by the Whigs of Missouri, can expect 
success ; and that ere long will insure it. Our 
friends think we ought to send them at least 14,000 
names. They will send plenty of documents if we 
furnish the names ; for their arrangements are very 
extensive, and they are determined to push every- 
thing to extremity. They sent from the adjourn- 
ment till the I5tli of September about 3,000 daily. 
Democracy got the alarm and tried for a week or 
two to get up a like committee, but it was no go ; and 
then they turned 'round and construed the Post- 
office law that no member could frank in vacation 
anybody's speech but his own. This put an end to 
the daily exertions of the committee till Congress 
assembles. When this took place our committee 
had on hand printed and folded about 160,000 
speeches ready for franking, which they had several 
(five I believe) clerks constantly endorsing, and 
members enough to frank them attended daily and 
labored like good fellows. The best they could do 
was to send them in boxes to their friends as mer- 
chandise, relying on them to give them circulation. 
They have informed me that they have sent to my 
address about seven or eight thousand as our portion 
of those on hand. I expect them in a few days. 
How shall we put them in the hands of the people? 
How shall I send some to you? Write me at once, 
that I may give proper direction to this matter. 
The manner of sending the names is pretty much 
left to us ; but they propose first that the names and 



126 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

titles (such as Judge, General, Colonel, etc.) be 
plainly and fully written, with the postoffice, county, 
etc. ; that the list be composed of two separate lists, 
headed one Whig and the other Democrat, and I 
counsel that the Democrat list be the longest by two 
to one ; that these be selected as far as is practicable 
of honest, reasonable Locos, if to be found. I am 
quite satisfied we have been all wrong on this sub- 
ject, in sending to those who are already with us. 
By sending them to ''Colonel," "General" and 
"Judge" (Democrats), franked with some man they 
don't think knows them, they will consider it a com- 
pHment. If this does not do good, what will ? We 
ought also to send to enough Whigs to not give 
offense. These are my views ; how do you like 
them? . . . Raise the shout for "Old Rough 
and Ready" for next President. That is our game 
here, at all events, and so in the Union. 

Your friend, John Wilson. 

P. S. — I hope I shall hear from you on this sub- 
ject at once, and let me know how many counties 
you will be responsible for. 

A second candidacy for Congress was urged upon 
General Smith, and a more effective organization 
for the Whig party in Missouri was proposed, in 
the following letter : 

[John Wilson to G. R. Smith.] 

Fayette, i6th November, 1846. 
Dear Sir : 

To-day I leave for New Orleans, where I shall 
expect to receive an answer to this, as well as many 
more during the winter. I have ordered you the 
speeches, etc. ; and suppose they are already at 
Boonville, as you directed. I hope you will make 



CORRESPONDENCE 127 

extensive as well as good use of them. I have writ- 
ten the Hon. T. Smith, if he wishes any special in- 
formation at any time from here, to call on you, and 
have promised your efficient attention to it. 

I wrote you on the subject of preparing the way 
for being a candidate for Congress at next election 
nozu; I hope you will not only consider me serious, 
but actually engage in the matter now. If you will 
send me a list of names of your principal personal 
and political friends, I will take occasion to write 
them on the general subject, and so manage the 
affair as to turn their attention to that subject. 

At all events I think you had better get up com- 
mittees all over the district, State, etc., with a view 
of managing our political affairs till the election in 
'48 ; and take care that our true men are upon them. 
This ought to be attended to all over the State. 
This winter — now — is the time to begin. Depend 
on that, and I know no place more proper than in 
Pettis ; for to begin is the matter. You ought first 
get as early as possible your committees, and then 
press a general convention of our friends, expressly 
to make up organizations for '48, — a central com- 
mittee for the State to superintend all general elec- 
tions, one in each congressional district to attend 
to that, and one in each county. These ought all to 
be fixed between this and spring; for in May the 
campaign will begin to move and show its head. 
Get all your friends to write to St. Louis to our 
American (Native) paper, and urge them now to 
come out for Taylor. In relation to organization, 
these are the views of our friends to the East gen- 
erally. Our Eastern friends always have these com- 
mittees. I am opposed to them on principle, but 
there is no way for us to get along without them. 
You set fire to stop fire. 

Your friend, John Wilson. 



128 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

The progress which the movement for Taylor was 
making, and the effort for a Whig -Taylor organ- 
ization in Missouri, are seen in the following letter : 

[John Wilson to G. R. Smith.] 

St. Louis, 23rd April, 1847. 
Dear General : 

I am just here on my way down again to New 
Orleans, where I expect to leave again for home 
about the middle of June. 

You will see our proceedings at Fayette, as well 
as my hand in it. I am entirely sanguine in the 
belief that we can not only carry Taylor (for he is 
elected already), but Governor and legislature of 
our State, if our friends will at once seize this 
favorable moment and organize with vigor and 
energy. If we do this, Old Zack will carry us. All 
we have to do is to fan the flame that the battles of 
Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, and 
Buena Vista have kindled ; and Loco Focoism will 
be not only consumed, but its very remains will be 
scattered to the four winds of heaven. Therefore, 
I beg you in the name of your country, for the love 
of liberty, and for the sake of the reform of Loco 
Focoism, which Whig success insures — Organize — 
Organize! Make that organization broad enough, 
while it seems a Taylor meeting, to take in a State 
organization, — Governor, Lieutenant - Governor, 
Congress (in the several districts) ; as for instance, 
a State convention for Governor and Lieutenant- 
Governor, and when they are assembled let the 
members from each congressional district decide 
who shall be the Whig candidate for Congress in 
that district. Or, if you prefer it better, a separate 
set of conventions for each district; no odds, so 
there is an efficient and immediate organization. 
Let us raise all the noise we can. These are my 



CORRESPONDENCE 129 

views. Act at all events, in the way you see best ; 
only act, and at once. Your friend, 

John Wilson. 

In the next letter the plans of the Missouri Whigs 
for 1848 are seen developing from the question of 
a national leader to the choice of local candidates 
and the advisability of making a strong stand for a 
liberal policy in granting charters for railroads and 
other internal improvements. On all these ques- 
tions General Smith was freely consulted. On the 
question of railroads, although his letters in this 
correspondence have not been preserved, there can 
be no doubt from his known opinions that his an- 
swer was a hearty affirmative. 

[John Wilson to G. R. Smith.] 

Fayette, Mo., i6th July, 1847. 
Dear General : 

I have just returned from New Orleans, and 
expect to be at home most of the summer. It is 
probable I shall make a trip in August to Spring- 
field, Mo., and Fayetteville, Ark. — There seems to 
be a general disposition amongst our friends to run 
Doniphan for Governor. What say you to that? 
Write me your views. The general views which I 
entertained in the winter, when I saw you last, are 
still those which I entertain now ; some new devel- 
opments have added to their strength in my opinion. 
That we ought to make the race on old "Rough and 
Ready," and internal improvements of the State as 
our only watchword, is to me entirely evident. The 
masses of our State, I feel sure, are in favor of both. 
Like it was in 1828, everybody knew all about 
General Jackson ; so now more than everybody 



I30 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

knows all about General Taylor. On the other 
hand, the low stage of the Missouri river for two 
years, the high freight, not to say impossibility of 
sending produce to market at all, has at once 
brought all minds to consider the importance of in- 
ternal improvements. There is now a general fever 
in favor of such projects. It is true, different parts 
of the State ask different improvements ; and all 
taken together they would amount to more than 
could be made at short notice. But it will be a 
great oversight in our friends if they do not take 
vigorous hold of this f eehng ; and if added to Tay- 
lor and Doniphan, we shall surprise ourselves in the 
final result. The Loco Foco party (its leaders) 
must go against internal improvements ; at least they 
will oppose any practical plan. And first, while 
they declare generally that they are in favor of the 
system, they will in advance declare themselves to 
be opposed to running the State in debt for these 
improvements, and with great glibness cite Illinois, 
Mississippi, etc. I am also opposed to running the 
State largely in debt, which it would require to 
make all that is wanted ; and consequently I shall 
propose that our friends do not insist on the State 
making them. And therefore, to avoid an issue 
with them on that point, and make one with them 
on the subject of private corporations, let us insist 
that the necessary railroads, slack-water navigation 
to our smaller rivers (as the Osage), can be made 
by private corporations ; and let the tug of war come 
between us upon the provisions of the charters to 
the companies. The faithful, you know, will insist 
on the personal liability clause ; while we ought to 
declare that, if companies can be got to take such 
charters, we will prefer it, but that rather than 
not make these improvements, we go the usual 
clause of old corporations, making only the stock- 



CORRESPONDENCE 131 

owners liable to the amount of their stock. By 
showing up the great loss we have sustained in con- 
sequence of the want of these improvements (which 
I intend to undertake in some newspaper articles 
this summer), I feel sure that we can sustain our- 
selves amongst the sovereigns in making this an 
absolute test to all our candidates for the legisla- 
ture. The immense loss sustained the last year 
even, will make many of the heretofore faithful 
desert them. . . . 

I think we had better get some Loco who goes 
for old Zack and internal improvements to run with 
Doniphan as Lieutenant-Governor. Who can w^e 
get? Campbell is crazy for internal improvements 
( I came up from New Orleans with him to Jefferson 
City) ; whether he goes for Taylor is yet a matter 
to be decided on, as he may hereafter see his way. 
He is anxious for a trade with the Whigs to aid him 
to beat Phelps. I sounded him only thus far, not 
knowing what was our state of political feeling. 
He made me promise to stay a few days at his house 
when I go out, and then I can see how the cat hops. 
Write me your views : what his force is amongst 
the faithful ; does Haden go with him ; and would 
he make a preaching journey to aid us? If we 
agreed to take up Campbell, would it be best to run 
him for Congress or Lieutenant-Governor? There 
is Claude Jones ; I am told that he is preparing him- 
self to run as an independent candidate for Gov- 
ernor ! Strange as that seems, yet I am not so cer- 
tain that he can not do more good amongst the rank 
and file in that part of the State, which of all others 
is against us. But you know more what he can do 
than L How would he do for Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor? Quien sabef Who knows? Write me on 
this. He was at Jefferson as I came up ; he heard 
I was aboard and sought me, evidently to see what I 



132 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

had to say on political matters. The bell just rang 
to start; our interview lasted only half a minute. 
It resulted in an agreement that when I came out 
there I was to call on him and talk over affairs. 
There is also English of Cape Girardeau; Carte 
Wells of Lincoln ; the Rylands up above ; and Hall 
here (if he don't get the judgeship) ; and several 
others whose position with their party render it 
quite probable a bargain might be struck with them. 
Let me hear from you. Campbell's hobby for a 
railroad is from Springfield down along the divide 
between the waters of the Osage and Gasconade to 
the Missouri river. Your friend, 

John Wilson. 

The late date fixed for the Whig State conven- 
tion, the disastrous results therefrom, General 
Smith's candidacy for Congress, the difficulty of 
getting Whigs to make the almost hopeless race for 
the governorship, and the well-worn theme of a 
more effective organization, are the topics of the 
following letter from General Wilson : 

[John Wilson to G. R. Smith.] 

Fayette, Mo., ist October, 1847. 
Dear General : 

What has become of you that I hear not from 
you for so long a time? What are you Whigs in 
Pettis about? Are you going to organize the first 
of November, in obedience to the suggestions of 
our central committee ? I hope you will ; much 
good may come of it. Heretofore our friends have 
done too little towards organization, too little in 
action, and hence our overwhelming defeat. Times, 
it seems to me, are now propitious to attempt a 
complete organization. And if this is followed by 



CORRESPONDENCE 133 

energetic, united action, my opinion is success to a 
great and desirable extent will follow our efforts. 
I fear, however, that our organization will be upon 
paper, by resolves and resolutions, not followed by 
action. My mind is made up that in this election 
(I mean that of '48) that the Whigs in this State 
will either make a great gain, or a great loss. If 
we organize and follow it up with untiring action, 
such as the Democrats did in "hickory bush" times, 
we shall succeed ; if we only organize on paper and 
sleep on our oars, as I fear will be the case, then our 
attempts at organization will do us great harm and 
we shall come out loser. We have so long prom- 
ised our people a triumph, if we now let things go 
by default our forces will despair and leave us. 

I fear our central committee have postponed our 
convention too late, but I am inclined to the opinion 
a majority of our friends approve of the time, and 
this no doubt justifies their act; but if it had been 
left to me, I should have fixed December greatly in 
preference. The main designed good they expected 
to obtain by so late a day was a knowledge of what 
our opponents did and who they nominated. I con- 
fess that there is or may be something gained by 
this ; but am very certain we shall lose double that 
we thus gain by the delay. Already the campaign 
amongst the Locos is under full headway ; all their 
people are fully engaged in electioneering. In each 
neighborhood, almost certainly in every district of 
country, there is "a Richmond in the field" for Gov- 
ernor, and indeed all else. These are all as busy as 
nailers, reining in the people to a pledge for them 
first, and then for somebody second ; but all finally 
for the nominee of the convention. Thus, while 
they have the field to themselves (for we have and 
can have nobody out till the convention nominates 
them), they are going about renewing the faith of 



134 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

their old partisans, many of whom are ready to fail 
away ; but as no one of our people is in the field to 
draw a distinction or to give them courage to refuse, 
many now sick of "Polk-stalk" rule will again 
pledge themselves to their old associates. Even if 
some of them have the courage to suggest that they 
go for internal improvements, which is now being 
got up into a fever, — (this reminds me of my scrib- 
bling over the signature of "Missouri" in the 
Times; the first number was begun on the 21st of 
August and so continued ; there will be eleven num- 
bers ; get them republished in your town if you have 
a paper, if not your nearest paper), — these Demo- 
crats will laud internal improvements to the skies, 
and swear the Whigs will go for plunging the State 
in debt twenty or thirty millions to make them ; and 
yet if our candidates were soon on the field, they 
would be enabled to show both these matters false. 
If now any of the Locos show signs to their leaders 
of going over to Taylor, why they assure them upon 
honor Mr. Clay is to be run. In these and various 
other ways we shall be constantly losing votes that, 
if we were early in the field, we might and would 
gain. Our committee have not given time enough 
to canvass the State. No candidate can do it in less 
than seven months ; they have allowed only half 
the time. . . . Have we not always been beaten ? 
Do we not know we must have of their forces over 
3,000 men before we can expect to succeed? 

. . . Are you going to run for Congress in 
your district? Jack Campbell wants to do so 
against Phelps. Who shall we get for Governor, 
etc. ? Doniphan is out of the way, it seems ; he 
won't run. This is according to his creed ; he will 
not allow his friends to use him in a doubtful race. 
For my part, in sure times I am for rewarding the 
man who lays his shoulder to the wheel when asked 



CORRESPONDENCE 135 

by his friends in times of doubt. Them's my senti- 
ments. Yours, John Wilson. 

P. S. — Our friends ought to raise money to pay 
the actual expenses of Governor, Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, etc., besides for other expenses in printing, 
sending documents, etc., for the Governor and Lieu- 
tenant-Governor have such a herculean task ; if they 
quit their business for several months, this is all we 
ought to expect of them. 

The next letter, from Mr. Haden, throws light on 
the congressional canvass of 1848. General Smith 
had been proposed but had withdrawn from the 
contest of 1846; since that time there had been fre- 
quent talk among his friends of a renewal of his 
candidacy, and his name was still being mentioned 
by the Whigs in connection with the office. 

[Joel H. Haden to G. R. Smith.] 

Springfield, Mo., March 9th, 1848. 
My Dear General : 

Yours of the ist inst. came to hand by due course 
of mail, and we were delighted to hear that you were 
all in good health. 

I feel fully persuaded in my mind that the man 
who goes to our convention strongest will not be the 
more likely to be the nominee. I think it certain 
that a compromise will be had on a second choice ; 
and should not the nominee be made on this side of 
the river, from what I can learn of public feeling in 
the Southwest, they will be more likely to unite on 
King than any other Northern man. I do not 
flatter myself that I will be successful ; but I am 
bound to make a respectable show, and while the 
ball is rolling it may possibly come to me. The 
friends of Phelps in the Southeast are anxious 



136 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

that the Southeast and Southwest should operate 
together in harmonious action. About Acock and 
his friends I know but Httle ; only that some of his 
friends are my violent enemies, and others of them 
are my warm, zealous friends ; and there is no doubt 
but I will share largely in his five counties, unless 
some new ball is put in motion to defeat me. Upon 
the whole, I view the final result quite problematical 
and uncertain. I talked with Brother R. C. Craw- 
ford, shortly after I saw you, and found him zealous 
in favor of his county going for you. But he in- 
formed me all pegs were stuck for Winston, and I 
suppose he found that he could not pull up those 
stakes ; and I am told the county went for Winston. 

On Monday last the Whig meeting came off in 
this county. They passed but two resolutions : one 
in favor of General Taylor for the Presidency, and 
the other was that it is inexpedient for the Whigs 
to run a candidate in this congressional district, etc. 
How fully in character with the Bailey dynasty ! 
But in that, the Dr. Perham and Garry wings of the 
Whig party most cordially co-operated. So you 
will perceive that there is nothing new under the 
sun at Springfield ; for the two factions united upon 
Taylor as the only available man (all at the same 
time having a decided preference for Clay), and 
that it was bad policy to run a candidate for Con- 
gress in this district. 

I think I see the handwriting upon the wall. 
Your information about Campbell is altogether 
wrong. No county has or will instruct for him. 
Neither has he said he will go into convention, that 
I know of. He has been gone now for four or five 
weeks to Texas and (report says) to the island of 
Cuba, with his two daughters. But he is to return 
by or before the first of May ; and from what I could 
discover before he left, by the repeated and constant 



CORRESPONDENCE 137 

caucusings of himself and a faction in the Whig 
party, I incline to think it is understood that on his 
return he will set out with the aid of the Whigs to 
break down the nominee, be he who he may. I do 
not speak this by authority, but by conjecture alone ; 
but still I think I see the handwriting on the wall. 

Jack will do or risk anything to break down 
Phelps, and I think there is but little doubt of his 
being the nominee for the district, having now eight 
counties instructed in his favor, — and they are 
strong counties. We of the Southwest have been 
apprised of the manoeuvers of other aspirants and 
their friends to break him down. There is only a 
bare possibility of it as things now stand, yet we 
think we will get several other counties in the 
Southwest. 

I believe I have given you all the information you 
asked for and perhaps more. But this letter is for 
your own eye. . . . 

Will you be at our State convention? I would 
like to see you there. If I leave home under favor- 
able circumstances, I intend staying over and being 
at yours, in order to inform myself how the **coons" 
act in convention. . . . Do let me hear from 
you upon receipt of this, and believe me to be your 
friend, devotedly, fraternally, and in the hope of a 
better resurrection to eternal life. Farewell. 

Joel H. Haden. 

General G. R. Smith. 

Preparations for the presidential canvass had 
meanwhile gone actively on. In May, 1848, the 
Democratic national convention met in Balti- 
more, and nominated Cass of Michigan and Butler 
of Kentucky on a strict-constructionist platform, 
which was non-committal on the power of Congress 



138 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

to exclude slavery from the territories. In June 
the Whig convention met in Philadelphia. There 
the contest was between Webster, Clay, Scott, and 
Taylor ; with the result that Taylor was nominated 
on the fourth ballot, with Fillmore of New York for 
Vice-President. No platform was adopted by the 
convention, the delegates voting down resolution 
after resolution as soon as offered; and as Taylor's 
advisers both before and after his nomination care- 
fully imparted a tone of vague elusiveness to all his 
political utterances, the campaign was fought by 
the Whigs, in the language of Professor Von Hoist, 
on the basis of the systematic "abandonment of all 
principles on principle." 

The following is the first letter received by Gen- 
eral Smith from his friend Wilson after the presi- 
dential nomination ; an active organized canvass of 
the State for Taylor is its theme : 

[John Wilson to G. R. Smith.] 

Fayette, Mo., 29th July, 1848. 
Dear General : 

We have the opinion here that a vigorous and 
well-directed effort will carry the State for Taylor. 
I write you now, that as soon as the State election is 
over you may consider this matter and let me know 
your views. In the event we mxake the attempt, the 
first act in the drama would be a grand State mass 
meeting at Jefferson City, Boonville, or elsewhere ; 
one of the same kind afterwards in each electoral 
district; the impetus of these will insure them in 
each county, and this will carry the State for "Old 
Zack." In such an attempt our electors would take 
the stump day and night till November, and all our 



CORRESPONDENCE 139 

Whig speakers be detailed for like services as assist- 
ants and forced to act. 

If we can carry the State for Taylor, with the 
divisions amongst the Democrats we can elect a 
Whig to the United States Senate. See your Whig 
friends, as far as you can ; correspond with the rest, 
and let us hear your views. Your friend, 

John Wilson. 

General Wilson acted as one of the chief man- 
agers of the Taylor campaign in Missouri. The 
election over and the victory won, he sought his re- 
ward in an appointment under the new administra- 
tion. The following letter, written to General Smith 
in pursuance of that object, is interesting for its 
account of Wilson's correspondence with and visit 
to the President-elect on his Louisiana plantation. 
It was sent from New Orleans some time in Jan- 
uary, 1849: 

[John Wilson to G. R. Smith.] 
Dear Sir : 

Allow me to trouble you with some politics, and 
also something as to myself, — the latter in partic- 
ular. Self, you know, is the nearest to one's self ; 
next our friends. 

Last spring and summer, while here, I formed a 
pretty familiar acquaintance with General Taylor. 
Through the summer and fall, after I went home, 
I kept up a pretty fair running correspondence with 
him, in the course of which he frequently thanked 
me for information, etc., I gave him. All this seemed 
pretty fair ; and when I came down here this fall I 
ventured to write him a very long letter on two sub- 
jects, making such suggestions as I thought would 



140 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

be right for him to adopt, giving my reasons as full 
as a letter would allow. 

The subjects on which I addressed him were 
two : — What his inaugural address should contain ; 
how he should choose and govern his Cabinet. As 
to the first, I proposed the Allison letters as the ba- 
sis/ and the only specification I urged was that he 
should declare in a bold and emphatic manner that 
meddling with elections by government officers was 
a high political offense worthy of removal, and that 
he should consider it his duty to remove both those 
who had or should thus meddle ; and quote General 
Jackson's first inaugural as authority. As to his 
Cabinet, they should be highly moral, sober, work- 
ing men, who considered that they had yet political 
capital to earn, and not any of the old Hunker folks, 
who thought themselves at the top of the political 
ladder ; that he should take no old Cabinet men, but 
all new men ; that when selected he and they should 
agree on a few general rules for their government, 
and after that leave each to manage his own depart- 
ment in his own way ; and they could in moderation 
turn out the most prominent offenders at once, 
and as to lesser ones let them put them out ; and 
then let it be kept in view that the Locos had had 
the offices for twenty years, and on that ground put 
in Whigs till something like equality existed ; but 
proscription for opinion's sake ought not to be 
adopted. He forthwith answered me, in effect : 
"Them's my sentiments, and I hope to carry them 
out, but will of course consult my Cabinet, and what 
we agree on I will carry out, even if not exactly as I 

^The second letter to Allison (September 4, 1848) was the platform on 
which Taylor's campaign was fought. This was written at Washington 
by Stephens, Toombs, and Crittenden, and forwarded to the General, 
"who then gave it to the world as his letter to Allison."— Von Hoist, 
History of the United States y III, p. 379. 



CORRESPONDENCE 141 

wish." He ended his letter by inviting me to go up 
to Baton Rouge to visit him; where, he said, "we 
could talk over more at leisure the many very inter- 
esting political questions mentioned in your let- 
ter," etc. 

I went, and no one could have received, appar- 
ently (and old Zack has not yet learned to be deceit- 
ful) a more frank and welcome reception. He 
opened his whole mind on all subjects to me; there 
was not anything that he could think of as connected 
with his duties as President that he did not speak 
about. In particular he stated his views about the 
private and political character of nearly all our 
leading men, — his objections to them, the reasons 
wdiy he felt favorable or unfavorable, etc., etc. It 
is impossible that he should have confided more to 
any man than he did to me ; and yet he never said : — 
*'Sir, you will not speak of this" ; although much he 
said, especially about men, should not be told. In- 
deed, it was confidential, except he will insist on 
good private character, etc., especially sobriety, be- 
fore he can or will appoint anybody. They must 
possess energy and industry; as to talents, he says 
there are plenty. 

Being just in that position with him, you know 
he can not know much about my standing, etc., at 
home, nor how I am reputed there by our friends. 
Now, if the Whigs of Missouri should think me 
worthy, and will at once — right now — fully indorse 
me as of good character, pretty good capacity, and 
entirely acceptable to the Whigs of Missouri, rec- 
ommending me at large as fit for anything, if they 
can say so, speaking of me for no specific office ; 
and if our Whig members in the legislature will 
join to do this, — all this, and my present start with 
him, will put me in a position to do much for my 
friends, and perhaps something for myself. They 



142 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

may do this the more readily as, if I seek any office, 
so far as now advised, I shall seek one out of the 
State. Whatever is done, I should like to have done 
at the earliest possible day, for reasons I will ex- 
plain to you when I see you. Let them all be in- 
closed to the Hon. Truman Smith, member of Con- 
gress from Connecticut, at Washington, saying only 
— not that I requested them to be sent, — but say 
that it was understood we were personal friends. 
If he gets them by the 20th February, or sooner, he 
may make a more powerful use of them than he 
could afterwards. 

It is easy for letters to be written as desired, if 
the signers can be had, and send them off. I have 
asked aid in this from Mr. Campbell, Nat Pascal, 
Colonel Young of Boone county, Weston F. Birch, 
John B. Clark, Ned Samuel of Clay, with my broth- 
ers Robert and William; and now I ask aid from 
you, if you can give it. I ask your active aid in get- 
ting all the letters you possibly can get, at the earli- 
est day ; and to be forwarded to Mr. Smith. I sup- 
pose they had better be directed to General Taylor, 
but enclosed without being sealed to Mr. Smith ; he 
can seal them. Now I ask help from none but those 
I am willing to help. I know not whether I deserve 
it or not ; I know I wish it and, if agreeable, will 
like to have it, and be thankful at that. I would like 
for you to see as many of those letters as possible, 
or suggest their contents. If you will give yourself 
considerable trouble I will try and repay it. The 
earliest date they can be sent, the better. 

John Wilson. 

The closing scenes of Polk's administration are 
sketched, and the first news of the passage of the 
bill for the relief of General Smith is given, in the 
following letter from the wife of Congressman 



CORRESPONDENCE 143 

Phelps. As a Democrat, she could not be expected 
to sympathize with the inauguration of a Whig ad- 
ministration : 

[Mrs. Mary Phelps to G. R. Smith.] 

Washington, Sunday morning, March 4th, 1849. 
My Dear Brother Smith : 

I have sat down to inform you that Congress ad- 
journed this morning at seven o'clock. I remained 
at the Capitol until one o'clock. Such confusion 
never was seen before at one place. In the Senate 
there was one fight : the parties, Mr. Foot, Mr. 
Cameron. In the House two fights : the parties, Mr. 
Mead, Mr. Giddings ; Mr. Fricklen, Mr. Johnson of 
Arkansas. This is the commencement of a Whig 
administration. 

I think the people will be sorry before this ad- 
ministration closes. The civil and diplomatic bill 
passed, and was signed by Mr. Polk this morning 
at five o'clock. Mr. Benton and Mr. Allen refused 
to vote after twelve o'clock. 

The House bill for your relief passed the Senate 
at eleven o'clock last night. My husband has been 
after the Senators from our State since the setting 
of Congress. Mr. P. says, as he has no power of at- 
torney to draw your money, he will make an effort 
to have the Treasurer send you a draft. 

We expected to see you here, certainly, at the in- 
auguration of Old Zack. Do you not intend to come 
in for your portion of the spoils? The city is over- 
flowing. Strangers can not get places to sleep, and 
hardly a roof to cover their heads. 

General Taylor has been here since Friday week, 
and all the time so pressed with company that he 
could not walk into the street to get the fresh air. 
I predict before four years shall have passed into 
oblivion he will wish himself in the camp. You will 



144 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

see by the papers before this letter reaches you who 
are the Taylor Cabinet. 

We shall leave here on Tuesday morning for 
home. I never was so worn out in my life, and I 
think when I get home again I shall be willing to 
stay there. I hope your family are well ; give my 
love to them and accept my best wishes for yourself. 
My husband wishes to be remembered. He would 
have written you this morning, but he was so much 
fatigued after his night's labor he had to go to bed. 
Your friend and sister in the Lord, 

Mary Phelps. 

Below are given the letters received in this period 
from ManHus V. Thomson, of Georgetown, Ky., a 
brother-in-law of General Smith, who served in the 
Mexican War and achieved an honorable record. 
Under date of September 12th, 1847, ^^^ writes : 

[Manlius V. Thomson to George R. Smith.] 

Georgetown, Ky., 12th Sept., 1847. 
General George R. Smith : 

You will have seen, before this reaches you, no 
doubt, that I have been appointed Colonel of the 
3rd Regiment Ky. Vol. Infantry. This will some- 
what surprise you all in Missouri, I suppose ; but 
the deed is done, and I expect my regiment to ren- 
dezvous at Louisville about the first of next month. 
Our destination is not certainly known, but there 
seems to be no doubt that we shall be ordered to 
join General Scott's columns. If so, we shall have a 
very pleasant time of it, seeing that the sickly season 
will be over before we shall reach Vera Cruz, and 
that the winters in Mexico are as pleasant as the 
month of May in this climate. We have volunteered 
for the war, quite an indefinite period truly; still I 



LETTERS OF M. V. THOMSON 145 

think some arrangements for peace will certainly 
be made in less than twelve months. The expense 
of holding the whole country would be too great, 
and public opinion in the United States will com- 
pel an adjustment of some sort. I think the chances 
are in favor of our returning before the next sum- 
mer. 

My family will remain in Georgetown during my 
absence, in order that the children may go to school. 
Volney will probably go with me, attached to the 
sutler's department. Lewis Postlewaite is sutler; 
John Rodes Smith, Captain of the company from 
this county, and Ben. F. Bradley, First Lieutenant. 
Thomas L. Crittenden is Lieutenant-Colonel (son 
of John J.) ; and John C. Breckinridge (son of Ca- 
bell) is Major. They will make first-rate officers, 
and are very agreeable gentlemen. 

Yours truly, M. V. Thomson. 

October 27th, 1847, ^ second letter from Colonel 
Thomson was sent to General Smith ; its material 
portion follows : 

[Manlius V. Thomson to George R. Smith.] 

Louisville, Kentucky, 27th October, 1847. 
Your letter of the 26th September found me at 
this place some two or three weeks ago, and I have 
delayed replying in the hope of giving you some 
definite news in relation to my movements, etc. At 
the time you wrote there seemed to be good prospect 
for peace ; but it was soon dispelled, and the end of 
the war seems now to be farther off than ever. The 
consequence is that we have been making our prep- 
arations for proceeding to the City of Mexico, and 
the day of our departure from this city is fixed for 
Monday next, the first of November. We might 



146 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

have gone two weeks sooner, but we are under the 
orders of General Butler, who has command of a 
division composed of two Tennessee, two Kentucky, 
and one Indiana regiments, three of which were not 
ready, and he was desirous they should all move at 
the same time. He is not willing to wait longer for 
the tardy regiments, and has fixed our departure for 
Monday next. We expect to leave then without 
doubt, and shall go direct to Vera Cruz, and then, I 
suppose, to General Scott's headquarters. 
Yours sincerely, 

M. V. Thomson. 

In a letter to General Smith's daughter Sarah, 
Colonel Thomson gives his impressions of Mexico : 

[Manlius V. Thomson to Miss Sarah E. Smith.] 

City of Mexico, 26 April, 1848. 
Dear Sed : 

I was quite gratified to receive some days ago 
your letter of the 4th ult., with a short postscript by 
Betty. Although I am so far away from you all in 
Missouri, I had by no means forgotten you, and was 
much pleased to hear that you were all well and that 
the State of Missouri was populating fast. Four 
boys in the family in so short a time would seem to 
indicate that Missouri will be a great State one of 
these days, particularly if those of you who remain 
single should get married soon. 

You ask me how I like the country, the people, 
etc. ; and how it looks after all the battles and 
bloodshed. The people are last-rate, the country 
indifferent. I want nothing more to do with either. 
God forbid that they should ever become annexed 
to, or part of, our Union. The people lack intelli- 
gence, industry, morals, and courage. The country 
seems to me to have been made for them. It has the 



LETTERS OF M. V. THOMSON 147 

appearance of never having been finished, or having 
been worn out. A large portion of it is nothing but 
volcanic mountains, entirely destitute of vegetation 
and timber. There are some fine rich valleys, but 
they constitute a very small part of the country. 
There is no wood in the valleys and but little on 
the mountains. But this does not seem to be as great 
a defect as you might suppose, as the climate is so 
mild that there is very little use for fuel. When our 
army came into the city, there was not a fireplace 
in it. We have built one or two, so that we have 
done something for them to offset the harm. The 
people generally are very degraded. A fevv are in- 
telligent and wealthy. The great mass are Indians, 
no better than those west of Missouri. Many of 
them go half naked all the year. The women wear 
no bonnets and many no shoes or stockings. They 
have more churches and less religion than any peo- 
ple in the world, yet they are all true Catholics and 
very intolerant of all other creeds. 

There are, however, a good many curiosities 
in the country worth seeing, — the mountains, 
churches, mines, caves, and tropical fruits. We 
have had watermelons, oranges, cucumbers, toma- 
toes, and many other vegetables all winter. The 
mountains of Popocatapetl, Itazicuwaltl, and Orizaba 
are always covered with snow, even in midsummer, 
and I have seen them all three at one view, though 
perhaps 150 miles apart. I haven't time to describe 
them at present. 

Tell Betty she must take this as an answer to 
her note also, as it is now past eleven o'clock at 
night. Give my love to your father and mother, 
grandpa, grandma and all the family. I should be 
glad to hear from you all frequently. 
Your affectionate uncle, 

M. V. Thomson. 



148 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Soon after, Colonel Thomson and his regiment 
embarked for the North, and by the middle of July 
were again on Kentucky soil. The following letter 
gives the details of his return trip : 

[Manlius V. Thomson to George R. Smith.] 

Louisville, i8th July, 1848. 
Dear George : 

As you see from the above, I am once again on 
the soil of Old Kentucky. I arrived here on Sunday 
morning with my regiment on the steamer Mis- 
souri, in seven days from New Orleans. We had 
quite a favorable trip from the City of Mexico, con- 
sidering the season of the year, and the climate 
through which we had to pass. We left the city on 
the first day of June, and had the sun vertical over 
our heads during the entire month of June ; that is 
to say it was vertical at noon, or nearly so, all the 
time. For a portion of the time it was to the north 
of us, throwing our shadows on the south side of 
us. Nevertheless the heat was not so great as you 
would suppose, in fact not greater than it fre- 
quently is here. The reason of this- is that the coun- 
try is so elevated as to counterbalance the effect of 
the sun ; besides, at that season of the year it rains 
almost every day in that part of Mexico, which 
serves to keep the air cool. These rains fell almost 
every day in the afternoon, while we made our 
marches before 10 o'clock a.m., so that while they 
served to cool the air and lay the dust, they did not 
interfere with our march. We arrived near Jalapa 
on the tenth day, and had to remain in that neigh- 
borhood at Encorro (Santa Anna's hacienda) two 
weeks, before the transports were ready for us. As 
we went down from Encorro we called and staid a 
day at Santa Anna's other hacienda, Mango de 



LETTERS OF M. V. THOMSON 149 

Clavo. These are both very fine residences, but a 
good deal injured by our troops in the course of the 
war. On the 28th of June, having marched the three 
last days through mud and water, we arrived at 
Vera Cruz, and embarked the same day on sail-ves- 
sels for New Orleans. We had quite a pleasant 
voyage across the Gulf, arrived in New Orleans on 
the morning of the 5th of July, and left that city 
the evening of the 8th. Considering the season of 
the year and the unhealthfulness of Vera Cruz and 
New Orleans, we considered ourselves very fortu- 
nate in escaping without any yellow fever or other 
malignant disease. We were again quite fortunate 
in finding a rise in the Ohio precisely at the time to 
enable us to come on to Louisville without reship- 
ping. We arrived in pretty good health, although 
generally somewhat reduced in flesh by the heat of 
the weather and the fatigue of the march. 

I believe I am satisfied with military life, and 
quite willing to yield my claims to some younger 
man for the next war. In fact I became quite tired 
of the service, having nothing to do and no prospect 
of anything, even if the war should have been in- 
definitely postponed. Under this state of the case 
you may well suppose that we all became weary of 
the monotony of garrisoning a large city. 

I have no news of my family since I arrived here, 
but they were well a week ago. Give my love to 
Melita, Betsy and Sarah, and all my kin, partic- 
ularly to pa and ma. Yours truly, 

M. V. Thomson. 

In a letter of August 23rd, 1848, from George- 
town, Kentucky, Colonel Thomson has this to say 
of politics : 

We have nothing of much note in the way of 
news. You have seen the result of our election, 



150 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

which is quite satisfactory to the Whigs. They ex- 
pect to carry the election of Taylor easily. Van Bu- 
ren's running, it is supposed, will insure Taylor's 
election. Van will probably not carry any State, but 
will so divide the Democrats as to give the most of 
the Northern Democratic States to Taylor. At all 
events we think there is little doubt of Taylor's 
election. 

The acquisition of California as a result of the 
Mexican War, the discovery of gold there in 1848, 
and the election of a Whig President, operated as a 
powerful stimulus to the Smith-Thomson connec- 
tion. Large hopes of political preferment were en- 
tertained by Colonel Thomson, and lesser hopes by 
General Smith ; at the same time subsidiary plans of 
removal to California were mooted pro and con. 
Colonel Thompson wrote, November 19, 1848, from 
Georgetown, Kentucky: 

You have heard before now of Old Zack's 
greatest victory of all, I mean his victory over the 
Loco Focos. It is a grand affair, eclipsing Buena 
Vista. Pa has written me in relation to our going to 
California and reaping our share of the spoils. I 
have no objections, if everything is made to suit. I 
have written to pa at length on the subject and he 
will doubtless show you my letter. Let me hear 
from you on this subject during the winter. 

Again, February 4, 1849, he wrote from his Mis- 
sissippi plantation: 

In relation to the California movement, I am 
willing to be governed by the decision of the 
family. If they are willing, I will go along; if they 



LETTERS OF M. V. THOMSON 151 

decide to stay, I will stay, too. Unless, peradventure, 
I should be made Governor of the Territory, which 
I think is not improbable in case General Taylor 
should have the appointment in the first instance. 
It is yet uncertain, however, whether there will be 
a territorial government at all, and if there should 
be one who will make the nomination of the Gov- 
ernor, Polk or Taylor. If I can get the appointment 
of Governor, I am decidedly in favor of all hands 
going out. Otherwise I confess I am rather indif- 
ferent. Milton writes me that Monroe is going next 
spring, I suppose to look at the country ; and you 
intend to take a train of wagons over, if you can 
get a job of transportation ; so that I suppose by 
next fall we shall have both of you back to give an 
account of that country. It would be impossible for 
me to get ready before that time. But if all the rest 
of you conclude to go and should go next spring, 
why I will follow as soon as I can get ready. 

In reference to the Indian agency which you 
wish to obtain from General Taylor, I can only say 
that the way to learn what can be done is to make 
the experiment. I'm inclined to think he will not 
make a clean sweep as you suggest, but still there 
will no doubt be a good many removals, particularly 
when any fault is found with the present incum- 
bent. If the person now in office has faithfully dis- 
charged the duties of the office, and not interfered 
improperly in politics, I think there is but little rea- 
son to anticipate a removal. On the contrary, if he 
is liable to either of these charges, I should think 
he is pretty sure to fall. I shall be glad to serve you 
in the matter, and would suggest that you obtain 
the recommendations of some prominent Whigs in 
your State, and forward them to Washington, to 
be held there by some friend until such time as we 
may think the move ought to be made. Write me 



152 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

at Georgetown, Kentucky, where I shall be till the 
loth of April, letting me know what measures you 
have alopted and how I can serve you. All the let- 
ters of recommendation should be presented at once. 

Touching the appointment in General Taylor's 
Cabinet which you suggest that I should endeavor 
to obtain, it seems to me that I ought not to accept 
it, if tendered to me ; and I don't suppose I could 
get it if I was to try. At all events it is now too late 
for me to act in the matter, and I don't suppose my 
friends will take it in hand. Some of my friends in 
Kentucky were talking of proposing me for the 
Senate when I left home, but I think it is doubtful 
whether they will do so. I would prefer that station 
to a seat in the Cabinet. Besides, it would enable 
me to serve my friends as well as the other plan. 
But I don't count on either. . . . 

We have no news in this region of any note. The 
cholera appears to have nearly disappeared. It has 
not shown itself on the plantation so far. 

My love to Melita, Betty, Sarah, and all the kin. 

This, it seems, was the last letter which Mr. Smith 
received from Colonel Thomson. The eldest son of 
General Thomson, he achieved an honorable career 
as lawyer, soldier, planter, educator, and statesman, 
being elected in 1840 Lieutenant-Governor of Ken- 
tucky, and serving for a number of years as Presi- 
dent of the Baptist College at Georgetown. What 
would have come of the plans discussed above can 
only be conjectured; for on July 22, 1850, occurred 
the death of Colonel Thomson, in his forty-eighth 
year. He was one of General Smith's closest friends 
and political sympathizers, and his loss was keenly 
felt. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE PACIFIC RAILROAD 

(1849-1853) 

Missouri's interest in railroads — The Pacific Railroad char- 
tered, 1849 — Rival routes west of Jefferson City — General 
Smith champions the inland route — Secures vote of 
$100,000 from Pettis county — Inland route provisionally 
chosen by the legislature, December, 1852 — Calls con- 
vention at Georgetown — Grants of aid refused at Au- 
gust election, 1853 — Campaign of education by Messrs. 
Smith, Grover, and Woodson — Part played by General 
Smith — The inland route definitely chosen by the Com- 
pany — Importance of this step. 

The part played by General Smith in the strug- 
gle to secure the location and completion of the 
Pacific railroad, brings us to the greatest efifort of 
his life, crowned by his most signal achievement. 

To Missouri, in the middle of the century, the 
railroad question wore three aspects — local, nation- 
al, and sectional. Locally, the people of Missouri 
were interested in building railroads as carriers for 
their produce and for the industrial development of 
the State. As members of the nation who were in- 
timately concerned by their territorial position, they 
were interested in seeing a railroad built to bind the 

153 



154 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Eastern States to that golden West recently ac- 
quired by war and treaty. Sectionally, as members 
of a slave-owning community, it was their interest 
that no route to the Pacific be chosen which should 
build up the territory destined by nature and the 
Missouri Compromise to freedom, more rapidly 
than that portion of the public domain still open to 
slave colonization. Had the sectional interest alone 
been concerned, Missouri's influence would have 
been cast in favor of the routes proposed which 
took Memphis, or some other point well within the 
slave belt, for the Mississippi terminus. As it was, 
the local and the purely sectional interests were at 
variance ; and from an early period the influence of 
the State was given to the central route, which had 
the merit of traversing Missouri soil. 

It was the purely local interest which produced 
the first movement within the State for railroad 
building. In April, 1836 — when not a mile of rail- 
way was in operation west of the State of Ohio, and 
even in New England railways were but three years 
old — a railroad convention of about sixty persons 
assembled at St. Louis ; and resolutions were 
adopted foreshadowing roughly the system of rail- 
ways in Missouri as it exists to-day. The movement, 
however, was in advance of the time, and fifteen 
years were to elapse before the first iron rail was laid 
west of the Mississippi. 

The development of the national interest in a 
transcontinental line greatly stimulated the railroad 
movement in the West. Americans were quick to 



RAILROADS CHARTERED 155 

see the peculiar advantages to them of railways ; 
and as early as 1832 — within two years after the 
opening of the first important line in England — the 
suggestion of a transcontinental railway from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific was made. By 1838 the idea 
had ceased to be a novelty and become a question of 
ways and means; and the decade between 1840 and 
1850 saw many schemes publicly advocated and em- 
bodied in petitions to Congress. In many ways 1849 
was a climacteric year in the movement, for in that 
year conventions assembled in Boston, Memphis, 
St. Louis, and other places, all concerned with fur- 
thering some form of a Pacific railway. 

Influenced by this active interest, local and na- 
tional, the State of Missouri, between 1847 ^^'^ 
1855, granted charters for seven railroads, all of 
which received State aid in construction.^ These 
were, in the order of their incorporation, the Han- 
nibal and St. Joseph, chartered February 16, 1847; 
the Pacific railroad (now the Missouri Pacific), 
chartered March 12, 1849; the Northern Missouri, 
and the St. Louis and Iron Mountain, chartered 
March 3, 1851 ; the Southwest Branch of the Pacific 
road, authorized December 25, 1852; the Platte 
County railroad, incorporated February 24, 1853 ; 
and the Cairo and Fulton road, chartered February 
20, 1855. These lines were designed to serve not 
merely as parts of a local railroad system, center- 

^ The most valuable work on the relations of the State of Missouri 
to railroad construction is John W. Million's State Aid to Railways in 
Missouri {Economic Studies of the University of Chicago). Chicago, 1896. 



156 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

ing in St. Louis and tributary to Mississippi river 
traffic; but also, in the case of the Pacific road, as 
the first stage, west of the Mississippi, of a great 
transcontinental railway. 

By the charter of 1849, ^^ amended March i, 
1 85 1, the Pacific Railroad Company was authorized 
to ''construct a railroad from the Mississippi river, 
or any other point in the city of St. Louis, on any 
route the said Company may deem most advanta- 
geous, to any point on the western line of the State 
which the said Company may select." What that 
route would be, in its first half, was rendered certain 
by the geography of the State, for it would naturally 
follow the valley of the Missouri river as far as Jef- 
ferson City. Beyond that point at least two routes 
were open to the Company. The road might con- 
tinue to follow the windings of the river, keeping 
in touch with the thriving little towns that dotted 
either bank ; or it might take the more inland route, 
through Pettis and Johnson counties, leading it 
more directly, but through a more sparsely settled 
country, to its western terminus. 

Along both routes preliminary surveys were 
made; and, on July 12, 185 1, the report of the Chief 
Engineer was published in the Jefferson City En- 
quirer. The beauty and fertility of the country 
along the inland route were set forth ; but the cost 
of constructing the road on that location, according 
to the estimates presented, would be $168,923 more 
than on the other. The opinion of the Chief En- 
gineer, it was evident, inclined toward the choice of 



rv, 




MAP 



OF MISSOURI, SHOWING STATE-AIDED RAILWAYS 



Reproduced with alterations from Professor John W. Million's StaU 



A d to Railways in Missouri, by permission of the University of Chicago Press. 



SUPPORTS INLAND ROUTE 157 

the river route. Both routes, however, had ardent 
advocates ; and the supporters of the inland route 
set actively to work to secure the location of the 
road along the line which they favored. 

It is at this point that the services of George R. 
Smith became of prime importance. For several 
years before the chartering of the Company he had 
taken a keen interest in all discussions looking to- 
ward railroad building; and when that charter was 
voted he gave the project his cordial support. As 
early as October 22, 1850, he entered into corre- 
spondence with Thomas Allen, President of the 
road, urging the latter to visit Pettis county and ad- 
dress the people. Early in 1851, at Allen's sugges- 
tion, he procured signatures to a petition addressed 
to the Pettis county representative in the legisla- 
ture, instructing him to support the application of 
the Company for a loan of State credit for building 
the road. Now that the question had become a con- 
test between the rival routes, he threw himself 
with ardor into the struggle. The river counties 
already possessed an outlet by water for their pro- 
duce. To the inland counties victory meant indus- 
trial salvation. No one was better acquainted with 
Central Missouri, and the country west and south- 
west, with all its latent possibilities, than General 
Smith. Since 1834, he had ridden again and again 
over half the land of Central and Southwestern Mis- 
souri. He knew the industrial resources of Western 
Missouri, and also of the Kansas region and the In- 
dian territory ; he knew intimately the prairies and 



158 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

ridges, the valleys and river bottoms, the swamps 
and forests, along each of the routes in competition. 
In his mind's eye was a map of much of the coun- 
try concerned, graven by days of weary travel and 
hardship. He knew the region better than the en- 
gineers of the survey ; and he felt that in many 
ways the advantages of the river route were less 
than was indicated by the report. What advantages 
it did possess the inland counties might overcome by 
liberal grants in aid of the road. The river counties 
were richer and better able to make subscriptions 
than those along the inland route ; but the need of 
the latter was the greater. Energy and persever- 
ance might win the road for that route ; and to the 
task General Smith set himself with all the vehe- 
mence of his ardent nature. 

His first move was to summon a meeting of the 
citizens of Pettis county at Georgetown, in January, 
1852, to consider the question of voting a subscrip- 
tion to the road. The people in general were 
apathetic or opposed to the project, and from short- 
sighted economy, or narrow-minded conservatism, 
seemed likely to take no effective action in the 
matter; yet by active solicitation in person and by 
letter, General Smith succeeded in getting a good 
attendance. But when a proposition was made that 
Pettis county should subscribe $75,000 to the stock 
of the Company, it was voted down by a decided 
majority. Various propositions were then made and 
negatived, until at last a motion to subscribe even 
$10,000 was emphatically rejected. 



PETTIS COUNTY VOTES AID 159 

General Smith could never quite shake off a cer- 
tain diffidence in public speaking, and had remained 
silent up to this point. Now he came forward, and 
in a speech of two hours so wrought upon his audi- 
tors that the temper of the meeting was entirely 
changed. His varied information of the possibilities 
of the country, his intimate knowledge of the char- 
acter and habits of thought of his people, his 
native Kentucky eloquence, and above all his busi- 
ness common-sense, enabled him to present urgent 
and convincing arguments in favor of the road. 
The very men who had just voted down a grant of 
$10,000 now joined in voting a subscription of 
$100,000. An election at which the matter was to 
be finally voted on by the county was set for next 
August, and General Smith promised to canvass 
the county before election day. This promise he 
more than made good. Leaving his other business 
to take care of itself, he mounted his horse and 
rode into every township, urging the people every- 
where to vote the grant. The result of his seven 
months' labor was that when election day came the 
citizens of the county, whose whole assessed valua- 
tion was not over $500,000, voted by a majority of 
nearly five to one to grant $100,000 to the new road. 

The other counties along the inland route voted 
sums which raised the total subscription for this 
route to several hundred thousand dollars. In view 
of this liberal aid to the road, the next legislature, 
by an act approved December 25, 1852, located the 
road along the inland route. This action, however, 



i6o LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

was only secured after a hard fight. "The decided 
majority," wrote ex-Governor Thomas C. Fletcher 
of those events in 1892, "favored the river route. 
Senator Grover and George R. Smith unitedly made 
such a fight for the present location as at last pre- 
vailed. Grover succeeded in getting on an amend- 
ment, with the assistance of General Smith, which 
made the act voting the bonds in aid of the road 
conditional that the road should go through John- 
son county and consequently through Pettis county. 
I was a mere youth then, acting as an amanuensis 
or clerk for the promoters of the railroad at Jeffer- 
son City. There was what is called by parliamentary 
solicitors 'some hard work' after adjournment and 
before the meeting of the House and Senate, — vul- 
garly called 'lobbying.' The co-operation of Grover 
and Smith put the railroad where it is to-day. 
Grover led the fight in the Senate, and Smith did 
the general management outside as well as inside 
the halls of legislation." 

The action of the legislature was conditioned on 
the seven counties concerned (Cole, Moniteau, 
Cooper, Pettis, Johnson, Cass, and Jackson), rais- 
ing an additional subscription of $400,000 before 
the end of 1853. This portion of the act reads as 
follows : 

§ II. The Pacific railroad shall be deemed a rail- 
road beginning in the city of St. Louis and running 
westwardly by the way of Jefferson City ; and 
thence along the best and most practicable inland 
route through the county of Johnson, and termi- 
nating at any point in Jackson county which may 



PROVISIONAL LOCATION i6i 

be designated by the said Company, anything con- 
tained in the charter thereof to the contrary not- 
withstanding ; provided, the counties west of Jeffer- 
son City through which said road shall run, and 
those contiguous thereto, and individuals in the 
same, shall subscribe in good faith four hundred 
thousand dollars to the capital stock of said Com- 
pany, in addition to the amount already subscribed ; 
and if said four hundred thousand dollars additional 
stock should not be subscribed in good faith to said 
Company within twelve months from and after the 
passage of this act, the said Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany shall be free to select any location they may 
deem expedient ; and provided further, that the right 
of way can be obtained upon said route upon as 
good terms as any other. . . And for the pur- 
pose more effectually of securing the completion 
of the said Pacific railroad, the Governor of the 
State shall cause to be issued and delivered to said 
Compan}'-, upon their application and acceptance, in 
addition to the amount authorized to be loaned to 
said Company by the first section of the act approved 
February 22d, 1851, fifty thousand dollars of 
the State bonds for every fifty thousand dollars 
of the money of said Company actually expended in 
the construction of said Pacific railroad, whether 
the said money be collected from the capital stock, 
or derived from any other source other than the 
proceeds of sales of State bonds, upon the like 
proof, terms, conditions, and liabilities, and of the 
like character and denominations, as prescribed in 
the act aforesaid ; provided that the total amount of 
State bonds to be issued to said Company under this 
section shall not exceed one million of dollars, and 
the said Company shall complete the said line to its 
terminus in Jackson county, and put the same in 
operation, within five years after the passage of 
this act. 



i62 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

News of the action of the legislature is contained 
in a letter from President Allen dated January i, 
1853. In this, the resources of the road are enum- 
erated. There was $1,900,000 in county and other 
subscriptions, together with 150,000 acres of land 
estimated as worth $375,000, making a total (as 
figured by Mr. Allen) of $2,375,000. To secure 
the full amount of State aid voted the road, $625,- 
000 in private and county subscriptions must still 
be raised. "This," continues President Allen, "will 
very nearly build the road. The rest we hope to 
make up by our credit, and contractors who will 
take ten per cent, of their work in stock. Our road 
will be open to Franklin county in the spring, and 
we shall be working this way all the year. Let the 
friends of the road work, and we will put it through 
quicker than many people imagine." 

General Smith set to work to raise the additional 
$400,000 needed to assure the inland route. By his 
exertions a "Pacific Railroad Committee for Pettis 
County" was organized, of which he was chosen 
chairman ; a railroad convention was called at 
Georgetown for the second Monday in February, 
1853 ; an address to the people was prepared, Gen- 
eral Smith and Judge H. P. Gray being the authors ; 
and printed copies of this, with invitations to attend 
the proposed convention, were sent to all the promi- 
nent men in the counties concerned. The response 
to this appeal was gratifying. Two men in par- 
ticular, S. H. Woodson of Jackson county, and 
B. W. Grover of Johnson, were enlisted in the 



EFFORTS FOR INLAND ROUTE 163 

movement, and became, with General Smith, the 
staunchest workers for the inland route. Both 
announced their intention of attending the conven- 
tion ; but two days before it assembled, Mr. Grover 
found that his duties as State Senator would detain 
him at Jefferson City, and was obliged to content 
himself with sending a letter of advice and admoni- 
tion : 

Having responded to your invitation to attend 
the proposed Railroad Convention at Georgetown 
[he wrote], and my public duties being such as to 
deny me the pleasure of meeting with you on that 
occasion as I had hoped and expected, I beg leave 
to offer a few suggestions, in reference to the duty 
of the counties interested in the inland location of 
the Pacific railroad. 

In the first place, it must not be overlooked that 
the river counties have not yet despaired of securing 
the location of the road. To that end, for the next 
two years, they intend to strain every nerve — relax 
no exertion — spare no efforts — to outbid us, as well 
as out log-roll us in the next General Assembly to 
dislocate the road. Their hopes are hung upon the 
isolated proposition that the Company will not be 
able to build the road farther west than Jefferson 
City by the meeting of the next General Assembly ; 
that then the means of the Company will make it 
necessary to rely upon the large river subscription to 
complete the road. Such, I understand from reliable 
sources, is the argument used at Lexington and 
Boonville. 

Now what, under such circumstances, ought we 
to do? It seems to me that our duty is not only 
plain, but imperative; and that is, to come forward 
without delay at the earliest possible moment, and 



i64 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

subscribe the additional stock made necessary by the 
law to fix and forever settle the question as to the 
location of the Pacific railroad. That amount is 
$400,000 on the part of individuals and counties 
through which the road may pass and those contig- 
uous thereto, in addition to the present amount of 
the capital stock of said Company. Now, I take it. 
when the counties have complied with the requisi- 
tion of the eleventh section of the law, and these 
subscriptions are entered upon the stock book of the 
Company, then, and then only, will rights vest in 
these counties which can not be affected by any 
future legislature without their assent. 

Our action, therefore, ought to be prompt and 
immediate. Our additional subscription ought by 
all means to be entered on the stock book of the 
Company, if possible, before the annual meeting of 
the Board of Directors, which is, I believe, on the 
fourth Monday of March next. 

To that end I respectfully suggest that immediate 
steps be taken, in all the counties interested, to cir- 
culate petitions to the several county courts, pray- 
ing the subscription of the additional stock con- 
templated by the eleventh section of the bill to which 
I have referred. 

Looking to the immense stake we have in this 
great question, I hope whatever action may be de- 
termined upon by the united counsels of the conven- 
tion will secure the great object we have in view^ 
and its results may then contribute a just proportion 
to the development of the resources and prosperity 
of those whose interests you represent. 

On the day of the convention about thirty per- 
sons interested in the work were present. After a 
preliminary organization. General Smith explained 
the purpose of their meeting, and moved the 



DISAPPOINTMENTS 165 

appointment of a committee of two delegates from 
each county to apportion the $400,000 needed in sub- 
scriptions among the counties, towns, and individ- 
uals interested. This was done, and the committee 
reported an apportionment based on the assessed 
valuation of property for taxation. The report was 
unanimously adopted, and before separating, sub- 
ject to call, the members pledged themselves to use 
their utmost endeavors to see that the people of 
their counties should vote at the August elections 
the amount apportioned to each. 

Between February and election day (August i), 
General Smith continued unremittingly his efforts. 
When the vote was counted it was found that Pettis 
county had voted her quota of $70,000 additional 
subscription by a good majority. In all the other 
counties, where equal efforts had not been made, an 
emphatic negative was returned at the polls. 

When this discouraging news was received it was 
hoped, for a time, that the Company might still 
select the inland route. This illusion was dispelled 
by the following letter from President Allen to Mr. 
Grover, dated August 8, 1853 : 

In regard to the probabilities of location of the 
Pacific railroad west of Jefferson City, we are only 
waiting for action under the law, and have to give 
time until Christmas. My opinion is that if the 
$400,000 should be raised as required, and in good 
faith, the location will go on the Johnson county 
route. But if it is not raised as required, and in 
good faith, I am inclined to think the river or Boon- 
ville route will be taken. These are merely opinions. 



i66 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

I agree with you in the importance of settling the 
question, in order not only to relieve the public 
mind, but to get the entire line under contract. We 
shall, however, want all the stock you can raise. We 
have not succeeded as yet with our loan, and may 
not possibly for some time. This makes additional 
subscriptions absolutely necessary. The more sub- 
scriptions we get, the better our chances of effecting 
a loan. You will perceive, therefore, that we confi- 
dently rely upon increased subscriptions, and that 
there is not only no reason for abating efforts to 
get them, but new reasons for increased and per- 
severing exertions. With our present stock we can 
not carry the road beyond Jefferson City. There is 
every inducement, therefore, for exertion to those 
who want the road beyond. 

To a subsequent letter of inquiry addressed by 
General Smith to Luther M. Kennett, one of the di- 
rectors, the latter replied, August 22, in these terms : 

Your letter of 15th instant is before me. Have 
delayed replying that I might see Mr. Allen, the 
President of the Company, and be able to give you 
all the information possible. Your newspapers are 
abusing the Board of Directors of the Pacific rail- 
road without stint, and utterly without reason. 
Previous to the examination of the river route, the 
feeling of the Board, as I informed you, was in favor 
of the inland route almost unanimously. The sur- 
veys and report of the Engineer have, however, 
raised a doubt in the minds of some of the Directors 
as to which line is preferable. Nevertheless, I am of 
opinion, and so is the President, that the legisla- 
ture have virtually located the road, provided you 
comply with the condition imposed, and that the 
Board of Directors are both legally and morally 



ATTITUDE OF COMPANY 167 

bound to respect that location. In other words, that 
the road will be located on the inland route, if the 
counties and individuals on that line subscribe $400,- 
000 in addition to what they had previously sub- 
scribed. 

So far as we are advised, you have only yet made 
up additional $50^000 in Pettis, $25,000 in Moniteau, 
and $50,000 in Johnson — $125,000 in all, and leaving 
you still $275,000 to raise, instead of $75,000 as you 
state. This difficulty can not be got over by with- 
drawing your original county subscriptions and 
making new ones, and then counting all as addi- 
tional, as some think may be done. Even with the 
$400,000 additional subscriptions required by the 
act of the legislature, you will have only a little 
over $600,000 on your line, whilst the subscriptions 
on the river line w411 be nearly $900,000. The 
Company can not build the road without means, and 
will go where the means can be had, — indeed must 
do it ; so there is no hope for you, unless you can 
make up at least what the act of the legislature 
requires. There is more of the road now under con- 
struction, from Franklin Station, thirty-seven miles 
from St. Louis, to Jefferson City, than we have 
provision to pay for, using State credit as fast as 
we can avail ourselves of it ; so that you see the hue 
and cry about not locating the whole road at once, 
and going to work upon it, is all nonsense. Besides, 
we are bound to wait the twelve months from 
December last, to see if the inland route makes up 
her subscription and claims the road. As you seem 
to think this will require a great effort (believing 
only $75,000 necessary), I fear it will look squally 
when you set out to get $275,000. Mr. Allen 
informs me he has written all these things in full 
to Messrs. Woodson and Grover, with whom you 
will doubtless confer. 



i68 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Messrs. Smith, Grover, and Woodson had not; 
awaited this letter before setting to work again on 
the agitation for additional subscriptions. The 
means taken to secure these are indicated in a letter, 
dated August 12, from Mr. Grover to General 
Smith : 

I enclose you a notice of railroad meetings on the 
line of the inland location of the Pacific railroad, 
which, after mature deliberation and consultation 
among the friends of the road, is believed to be the 
only feasible and speedy plan to raise the balance 
of the stock. You will perceive that these appoint- 
ments are made under the sanction of the central 
committee, to whom I request you to show it and 
get their co-operation. I have made the appoint- 
ments without first consulting them, because I was 
anxious to secure the aid and services of Woodson, 
who will co-operate with us. I expect to be with you 
at all of the places appointed, and hope you will 
make your arrangements to attend all the meetings. 
I will have the notices published in the Lexington 
Express and Occidental M^.?^^;i^^r (Independence), 
and will rely upon you and the central committee 
giving sufficient publicity to it on your end of the 
line. Send copy to Seely's store (Tipton), and 
Elkton, and have sufficient notice given in your 
county. I have made these appointments to meet my 
own and Woodson's convenience, and hope they 
will also suit yours. 

In this campaign, circumstances forced General 
Smith to take the chief part. The strain of the 
work proved too much for the health of Mr. 
Grover, and he was obliged to give over the task 



A NEW CAMPAIGN 169 

for a number of weeks. Woodson, too, found the 
necessities of his private affairs such that he wrote 
(September 13) to Smith: "I am now, and will 
be for three weeks to come, necessarily confined 
here at Independence by the session of our Circuit 
Court ; and the burden must yet longer remain on 
the shoulders of yourself and our excellent friend 
Grover." And again, on September 24 : "It requires 
yet more of the same energy, industry, and perse- 
verance that have characterized your efforts for 
some time past ; and we shall all look to Grover 
and yourself to complete the work commenced and 
prosecuted by you with so much vigor and success." 
Despite discouragements^ General Smith pressed 
on with dogged resolution, passing from town to 
town, from hamlet to hamlet, speaking wherever he 
could get a handful of people together, and every- 
where imparting to his hearers some share of his 
own enthusiasm. The counties along the inland 
route were poor and sparsely settled, the toal pop- 
ulation of the eight being only 85,540 ; and three of 
them (Cole, Moniteau, and Jackson) were almost 
equally interested in either route. Of Jackson Mr. 
Woodson wrote July 23, 1853 : ''Our county is 
peculiarly situated in regard to the road, and can 
not be expected to feel the same interest in the ridge 
route as the people of your county and Johnson, but 
I think a large majority are anxious that it should 
run upon the ridge ; and it is only necessary for me 
to assure you that my interest in that route is 
unabated. I am ready at almost any sacrifice to 



I70 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

devote myself to the work of raising the required 
amount." In the river counties, including the three 
just named, the census of 1850 showed 16,422 more 
persons than in the counties of the inland route. The 
river counties, moreover, had been settled for years ; 
they were comparatively well improved ; the rich 
slave owners lived there, raising hemp and tobacco, 
corn, hogs and cattle ; and they had almost at their 
doors one of the finest rivers in the world to bear 
their produce to market. They were in a far better 
position to subscribe liberally to the road than were 
the inland counties. They felt the road was already 
theirs, not dreaming that the inland counties would 
comply with the conditions of the law. Yet in the 
face of all this, General Smith made headway. On 
his return from his first canvass, he published a call 
for a second meeting of the convention ; and when 
that body reassembled on September 28th, he 
reported that at nearly every place of importance 
wdiere he had spoken he had succeeded in getting 
signatures to powers of attorney authorizing him to 
subscribe, in the name of the signers, for varying 
amounts of stock. 

This success revived the drooping spirits of the 
convention, and the members went home resolved 
for more vigorous action. In the river counties also 
the news aroused the people to greater exertions. 
Some bitterness accompanied the rivalry, and Gen- 
eral Smith was pained at times to find distorted re- 
ports of his speeches made the ground for news- 
paper attacks upon him by his opponents. In the 



RIVER RIVALRY 171 

main, however, the struggle was an amicable one, as 
is shown by the following extract from a letter 
dated October 11, from his old friend and former 
associate in the freighting business, W. H. Russell : 

How gets on the railroad? Our prospect seems 
to brighten, and if so yours must be on the wane. 
Do not despair, for we will not be outdone in kind 
offers ; if successful on the river, you shall certainly 
be allowed the privilege you so generously offered 
to us, that of tapping our road with one of plank, 
which will enable you to get your produce to market 
with much less labor than on the present mud-road 
system. 

After another month's labor, the convention 
assembled on October 25th, and again a favorable 
report was made, though the total subscriptions 
pledged were not yet equal to the amount required. 
The advocates of the inland route set to work once 
more with renewed determination to complete the 
task. 

Along the inland route itself, differences of 
opinion and interest developed as to the exact loca- 
tion of the road ; and prospective subscribers some- 
times wished to make their subscriptions conditional 
upon the road taking this or that particular course. 
The following correspondence indicates this, and is 
of interest also because the reply of General Smith 
is almost the only letter of his, other than those to 
members of his own family, which has been pre- 
served. Under date of November 15, 1853, Thos. S. 
McChesney wrote : 



172 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

I received your line after my arrival home from 
Jackson county, and could not be at your last rail- 
road meeting- at Wagon Knob. After the meeting 
at Chapel Hill, I rode a day soliciting subscriptions 
of the capital stock; but I found the folks in my 
bounds very unwilling to assign any amount of 
importance, but wishing to take large stock con- 
ditional. I therefore concluded not to send my list 
unless positively necessary to fill the requirements 
of the law locating the inland route. I am there- 
fore appointed to say to you, for the Board of Direc- 
tors of the road, that we can make some $30,000 to 
$50,000 in forty-eight hours in good faith to the 
capital stock of said road, on the condition that the 
road will be located on the Singleton Wagon Knob 
route. So, sir, if you think it prudent or advisable to 
do so, you will please send me a form of subscription 
and any directions you may think necessary, and 
your opinion fully on that subject. This route will 
suit you as well as either route, as it will diverge 
west of Georgetown; and we suppose the largest 
bid will probably take the road. Sir, please to 
let us hear at your earliest convenience from you 
that we ma}^ know how to act. 

General Smith replied, December 8: 

I received yours sometime since in relation to 
siibscribing stock to the Pacific railroad. I can not 
tell what effect it might have upon the location of 
the road if you, who are anxious for its location on 
the Simpson Ridge would come forward with a 
heavy subscription ; it might go far towards secur- 
ing the location upon the ridge. I can only say 
what course I should take if I occupied the position 
of the friends of that route; and that would be 
to offer in the way of subscription an amount suf- 



SUBSCRIPTION COMPLETED 173 

ficient to induce them to survey that route. I was 
informed several times, and by several different 
persons, that $50,000 or $75,000 could be readily 
raised if the road would take that route. The latter 
amount, no doubt, would have considerable weight, 
especially if it is a fact, as I was told it was, that 
the Simpson Ridge is nearer and the grades easier 
than the Chapel Hill route. Next spring there will 
be a corps of engineers on the road, and the location 
definitely fixed. In the meantime, I can see no 
injury that can result by an effort of the friends 
of the Simpson Ridge to subscribe an amount suf- 
ficient to induce the location, if possible, on that 
route. The friends of the present survey having 
subscribed liberally will, as a matter of course, have 
considerable influence in adopting that survey. 

In November a final meeting of the convention 
was called by General Smith, and all persons hold- 
ing powers of attorney authorizing subscriptions 
were notified to send them to him at Georgetown. 
The convention reassembled with a large attend- 
ance. The powers of attorney, together with a 
list of all subscriptions, were turned over to a com- 
mittee to examine and compute the total amount ; 
and it was found that subscriptions had been made 
(in addition to the amounts subscribed prior to the 
act of December 25, 1852) of $412,000. 

The battle — hard to the point of hopelessness — 
seemed won. But a new difficulty arose when, 
upon reporting the subscriptions to the Directors, 
a flaw was found by them in the subscriptions of 
Jackson county. By reason of the short interval 
before the expiration of the time fixed by law, the 



174 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

whole matter was thus thrown into jeopardy. Again 
General Smith proved equal to the emergency, and 
by personally guaranteeing, with some other gen- 
tlemen, the amount of the Jackson county subscrip- 
tion, the difficulty was overcome. 

At last, on November 14, 1853, the Directors 
passed this vote, definitely locating the road on the 
inland route : 

Whereas, the counties contiguous to and along 
the line of the inland route of the Pacific railroad, 
and the citizens of said counties, having in good 
faith as we believe secured to the Company the free 
right of way and raised the additional subscription 
of Four Hundred Thousand Dollars, as required 
by the eleventh section of the act of the legislature 
approved December 25, 1852, therefore 

Resolved, that said Pacific railroad west of Jeffer- 
son City be and the same is hereby located along 
the inland route through Johnson county to such 
termination in Jackson county as shall be hereafter 
fixed by the Company, in accordance with the pro- 
visions of the eleventh section of the act above 
recited. 

The importance of this success to the counties of 
the inland route can scarcely be overestimated. That 
region was thus assured an outlet through one of 
the fi^st railroads constructed west of the Mis- 
sissippi ; and priority in time counts for much in 
such matters. They were assured, too, of being in 
the line of a direct route to the Pacific coast. Before 
the road was completed across Missouri, Kansas 
took up the task of construction ; and though the 



FINAL LOCATION 175 

Civil War checked the progress of the work, and 
after that the enormous bounty of Congress to the 
Union Pacific road enabled that line first to reach 
the Western Ocean, yet the Missouri Pacific was 
still to become a road of the first magnitude, and 
one of the main routes to the Pacific coast. The 
location of the road on this route meant the found- 
ing of new towns in the counties concerned, includ- 
ing Sedalia, the especial creation of General Smith ; 
it meant also the rapid development of many old 
towns, and a large increase of the whole region in 
wealth and population. It is not too much to say 
that in great part the exceptional prosperity of this 
section of Missouri is due to the location of the 
Pacific road on the inland route. That this was 
done, as has already been shown, was chiefly due 
to the energy, courage, and ability of George R. 
Smith. 



CHAPTER VIII 

IN THE LEGISLATURE 

(1854-1855) 

Election to the legislature — Personnel of the Assembly — 
Organization and committees. (I) Rival candidates for 
United States senatorship — Cause of Democratic opposi- 
tion to Benton; the Jackson resolutions — General Smith's 
attitude in the senatorial contest — Inability of Whigs to 
elect Doniphan — Failure to elect a Senator. (II) The 
railroads and the legislature — General Smith's contin- 
ued services in the interest of the Pacific road — 
Elected member of its Board of Directors — Report of 
joint committee of the two houses on railroads — Conflict 
between the Southwest Branch and the Pacific road — 
General Smith's speech — Union of railroad interests in 
the railroad bill of the second session — Prospects of the 
bill — General Smith's services in securing its passage — Its 
final passage over the Governor's veto. 

The vigorous aid which General Smith gave to 
the Pacific road while the project was before the 
people, he was soon in a position to supplement by 
equally vigorous action in the legislature. Twice 
before he had been the Whig candidate for repre- 
sentative from Pettis county, but had suffered de- 
feat at the polls. In 1854, with the prestige of his 
brilliant railroad campaign, he for a third time made 

176 



CANDIDATE FOR LEGISLATURE i;; 

the race, and, aided by the mutual jealousies of the 
Benton and anti-Benton wings of the Democratic 
party, was elected by a good plurality. 

While the campaign was still on, General Smith 
received the following letter from his friend, John 
S. Jones. It is dated Washington, D. C., June 30, 
1854, and shows admirably the feelings against 
which a Whig in Central Missouri at this time had 
to contend : 

I hope you will make a respectable race for the 
legislature, but hope a good Democrat will beat you 
by a small majority. I don't want you beat so bad as 
to mortify your feelings at all; for I do think as 
clever a man as you are ought to have kept up with 
the times, and you should have now been a good 
Democrat. There is no such thing recognized here 
as a Whig party south of Mason and Dixon's line ; 
there is only a sectional Whig party at war on the 
institutions of the South. Governor Jones of Ten- 
nessee has declared himself separated from the 
party, and that no such party exists in the South, 
only to co-operate with Free-Soilers and Abolition- 
ists. 

You have taken back all you ever said about Ben- 
ton ; now come out, General, in the same manner 
about Wliiggery. Throw yourself loose from Free- 
Soilism ; for every Whig elected South is consid- 
ered an Abolition victory here. I know you are 
wedded to the old name Whig, but still I think you 
have patriotism enough to overcome that, if pride 
was not in the way. But conscience ought to over- 
rule pride, and you should come out a good Demo- 
crat. 

Poor old Bullion, he has gone clear over. He is 



178 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

now down on the administration, and thrown him- 
self in the arms of Free-Soilers and xA^bohtionists. 
His vote you will have already seen on Giddings' 
resolution to expel the editors of Union from the 
House. Benton voted with a small minority not to 
lay the resolution on the table. 

By General Smith's political opponents it was 
charged, during his legislative term, that he occu- 
pied his position as representative from Pettis 
county ''by accident rather than by the choice of the 
people." To this he replied with a letter, dated May 
S, 1855, to the editor of the Soiithzvest Democrat^ 
in which the following account of his nomination 
and election was given : 

In April, 1854, a mass meeting of the Whigs of 
Pettis county was called. Notice of the meeting 
was posted at all the public places in the county, 
calling on the Whigs to meet on the first day of our 
Circuit Court, for the purpose of appointing dele- 
gates to the congressional convention, and also to 
select a candidate to represent us in the State 
legislature, and to select candidates for the county 
offices. Well, sir, the convention met on the day 
proposed in the advertisements, and, with only one 
exception, it was decidedly the largest political 
gathering I have ever seen in the county, of any 
party. I was absent from the county for some 
weeks before the convention came off, and did not 
return until the day before it assembled. I had 
nothing to do with the call for the convention, nor 
any of my friends, so far as I know. It was stated 
to me on the morning of the convention by several 
of my friends that it had been called to defeat me, 



NOMINATED AND ELECTED 179 

and that the last Whig in the county who was 
known to be opposed to me was in the town, and 
they feared my defeat was certain. Well, sir, the 
convention met and was organized. A gentleman 
in every sense of that term, a decided and a very 
prominent Whig, enjoying the confidence of all men 
of all parties, and myself, were nominated, and I 
was selected by (as I was informed, for I did not 
attend the convention) an overwhelming majority, 
the lowest I have ever heard it stated was six to 
one. I was waited upon the same day, and in- 
formed of the result. I accepted the nomination 
and announced myself a candidate, — was the first 
candidate announced by some two or three weeks, 
and continued upon the track until the close of the 
election. \^arious efforts were made by the oppo- 
site party to defeat me. Several conventions were 
called ; finally two candidates were run against me, 
Benton and anti-Benton. The two together, I think, 
beat me some ten or fifteen votes. Many of the 
anti-Benton party declared their intention to vote 
for me, if there was the slightest prospect of the 
election of the Benton candidate, whilst many more 
of the Benton party declared their intention to vote 
for me, if there was the slightest prospect of the 
election of the anti-Benton candidate. 

The Assembly of which General Smith was a 
member was distinguished for the large number of 
men it contained who were then or have since be- 
come notable in State or national affairs. Among 
numerous testimonies to this effect, that of Judge 
J. C. Fagg may here be cited : 

My acquaintance with General George R. Smith 
[wrote Judge Fagg in 1892, in response to in- 



i8o LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

quiries from General Smith's family] began early 
in the month of January, 1855. I can not separate 
the incident of my introduction to him from the fact 
that it was the beginning of my own experience in 
public affairs and my first contact with the promi- 
nent men of the State. I have had some knowledge 
of every legislative body that has convened at the 
State capital since that time. The circle of my per- 
sonal acquaintance, and association with, the men 
who have been conspicuous in the political arena as 
well as in the legal profession has greatly enlarged 
in the thirty-seven years that have intervened, and 
my conviction is that the legislature of 1854-55 con- 
tained a greater number of able and experienced 
representatives than have ever assembled in council 
at Jefferson City since. It will be necessary to men- 
tion only the names of a portion of them to satisfy all 
who are familiar with the political history of the 
State that this statement is true. General Alexander 
W. Doniphan represented Clay county. Francis P 
Blair, Jr., George W. Goode, Samuel M. Brecken- 
ridge, B. Gratz Brown, Richard J. Barret, and Al- 
bert Todd were from St. Louis. Major James S. 
Rollins and General Odon Guitar were the mem- 
bers from Boone county. Charles H. Hardin was 
one of the representatives from Callaway, George 
Medley of Cole, General John W. Reid of Jackson, 
General George R. Smith of Pettis, and Louis V. 
Bogy of Ste. Genevieve. ... In the long list of 
members, I have constantly carried in memory the 
names of a large number of others not so conspicu- 
ous in the debates, but who were nevertheless able 
and efficient legislators. I may mention Colonel Joe 
Davis of Howard, Colonel James H. Britton of Lin- 
coln, Colonel Marcus Boyd of Green, Cyrus H. 
Frost of Texas, Colonel Robert Acock of Polk, John 
Doniphan of Platte, and many other hard-working 



MAKE-UP OF ASSEMBLY i8i 

intelligent members. In the Senate there were 
Henry T. Blow of St. Louis, C. C. Ziegler of Ste. 
Genevieve, Robert M. Stewart of Buchanan, Gen- 
eral John D. Stevenson of Franklin, Colonel Robert 
Wilson of Andrew, Peter Carr of Pike, Charles 
Simms of Cass, and others equally able and worthy. 

Politically the lower house was about equally di- 
vided between the Whigs, the Benton, and the anti- 
Benton Democrats, — the Whigs having a slight 
plurality over either of the others. With tlie aid of 
Benton votes, the Whigs for the first time in a 
generation elected their candidate, William New- 
land of Ralls county, as Speaker. General Smith 
received the compliment of Mr. Newland's ov/n 
vote for Speaker throughout the contest ; and he 
was appointed to the important committees on elec- 
tions and on internal improvements. His name 
further appears as chairman for the House of the 
joint committee to examine the condition and man- 
agement of the Penitentiary. 

The question of immediate political importance 
before this Assembly was the election of a United 
States Senator. Of this contest, and General Smith's 
attitude toward the factional struggles to which it 
gave rise, Judge Fagg writes^ in the account before 
quoted : 

Colonel Thomas H. Benton, Missouri's great 
Senator for six lustrums, was asking a re-election 
as a Democrat. The term of General David R. 
Atchison was also about to expire, and these two 
leaders of opposing elements in the Democratic 



i82 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

party were for the first time arrayed against each 
other as candidates for the same senatorial term. 
Colonel Benton's term had expired in March, 1851, 
and the Hon. Henry S. Geyer of St. Louis was 
elected to succeed him.^ The Whig party was nomi- 

^ An account of the election of Geyer was given to General 
Smith by A. M. Coffy, Representative from Pettis county, in a 
letter written at intervals January 17th to 19th, 1851: 

"Last evening we completed the twenty-fifth ballot for United 
States Senator without any change in the result except an addition 
to our strength of three votes, viz. : Stewart from Buchanan, Hun- 
ter, and Doherty, all anti-Benton. 

"We are in the midst of an excitement such as has not been 
witnessed at Jefferson City for many years. The hotels are filled 
with visitors, and the outsiders are as much engrossed in the elec- 
tion as members, and are indeed exercising an unfortunate influ- 
ence at this juncture. Many are made to hold on by threats and 
denunciations. The Antis — a majority of them, I mean — desire the 
election of Geyer; and but for the imprudence of two or three 
Whigs he would now have been the Senator. 

"10:30 a.m. — The twenty-sixth vote is just commenced; result: 
Geyer 70, Benton 54, Green 31 — a gain to Geyer upon the vote of 
last evening of three — Frost, and Harrison, and , Antis. 

"January 18. — We had but one balloting yesterday, the result 
of which I gave you. In the progress of the ballotings the last two 
days a wide latitude has been taken by various persons in discuss- 
ing the merits of the various candidates, to the great detriment and 
delay of important public business. Our country is cursed, — all 
parties are cursed, — with designing aspiring demagogues, who seek 
their own advancement, reckless of their country's interests; and 
I shall not be surprised if the pursuit of this object shall not 
only defeat the election of Senator, but other important measures. 
Last night the two wings of Democracy held a joint meeting. All 
except Democratic members were excluded. I am, however, in a 
condition to know what transpires at the meetings of the Antis, 
or in their joint meetings. It is agreed among them that neither 
Benton nor Green can succeed, but a jealousy of each other has 
so far prevented the suggestion of any other name. Each is striv- 
ing for the vantage ground, and if the leaders can control they 
will permit the State to go unrepresented rather than elect a Whig. 

"January 19. — Since the adjournment of the House another effort 
has been made to unite the two wings, but without success; and 
I can now almost give assurance that on to-morrow, Monday, Henry 
S. Geyer will be announced by the cannon's thunder and the 



BENTON AND SLAVERY 183 

nally united and was represented in the senatorial 
contest by General Alexander W. Doniphan of Clay 
county. No correct idea of General Smith's career 
as a public man can be had without a knowledge of 
the character and political status of the men with 
whom he was in contact, and the influences that 
were then shaping the legislation of the State. 

From the time of Colonel Benton's appeal to the 
people from the resolutions adopted by the Missouri 
legislature in 1849, down to the election of mem- 
bers in 1854, there had been the most bitter and 
fierce political warfare ever waged in the State. To 
understand it thoroughly we should have to go 
back to the very beginning of the controversy about 
the admission of slave property into the territories. 
But my purpose is to begin with what is known as 
the "Jackson resolutions." Claiborne F. Jackson, of 
Howard, was the reputed author, and they will 
always be known in the history of the State by his 
name. They assumed that the Northern portion of 
the United States had made war upon the institu- 
tion of slavery, and that the refusal of Congress to 
recognize and protect slaves as property in the ter- 
ritories was but the initiatory step towards its ulti- 
mate extinction in the States. This movement, be- 
ginning with what is known in the history of the 
times as the "Wilmot Proviso," was denounced as 
an encroachment upon the rights of the South, and 

winged lightnings as the successor of Thomas H, Benton. My knowl- 
edge of what transpires in their caucuses enables me to predict this re- 
sult with much confidence." 

After his defeat for the Senate, Benton secured an election to the 
lower house of Congress from the St. Louis district, but was de- 
feated for re-election in 1854 by a former Whig, who ran as a "Know 
Nothing." Though upwards of seventy years of age and feeble in 
health, Benton renewed the contest for the Senate in 1854. In 1856 
he was an independent candidate for Governor, and died in 1858. 



i84 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the fifth in the series of resolutions pledged the 
State to an unconditional co-operation with the 
Southern States in such measures as might be 
deemed necessary to resist it.^ 

Colonel Benton, with his usual promptness and 
vigor, denounced them at once as ''a fire-brand" 
thrown out to kindle the flames of rebellion and 
disunion. The opposition to him was led by some 
of the ablest men in the State, including Jackson of 
Howard, Hudson of St. Louis, Bogy of Ste. Gene- 
vieve, Stewart of Buchanan, Medley of Cole, and a 
great many others. I do not propose to write the 
history of that struggle among the leading Demo- 
crats of the State, nor shall I attempt to describe 
the bitter proscriptive spirit by which it was char- 
acterized. The tyranny of opinion connected with 
the institution of slavery had never so fiercely as- 
serted itself before, and its power fell with crush- 
ing force upon every opposing obstacle. Nominally 
a fight inside of the Democratic party, it nevertho- 
less extended itself into the ranks of the Whig 

2 These resolutions may be found in full in Carr's Missouri, 
pp. 223-5, and in Switzler's Missouri, 265-268. They declare: That 
any attempt of Congress to legislate "so as to affect the institution 
of slavery in the States, in the District of Columbia, or in the 
territories " is a violation of the principles upon which the Con- 
stitution was founded; that any organization of the territories 
which precluded inhabitants of the Southern States removing 
thither with their slaves, "would be an exercise of power by Con- 
gress inconsistent with the spirit upon which our federal compact 
was based, insulting to the sovereignty and dignity of the States 
thus affected, and calculated to alienate one portion of the Union 
from another, and tending ultimately to disunion"; that the people 
alone of the territory, at the time of forming a State government or 
subsequently, can prohibit slavery in that territory; and finally, that 
"in the event of the passage of any act of Congress conflicting 
with the principles herein expressed, Missouri will be found in 
hearty co-operation with the slaveholding States, in such measures 
as may be deemed necessary for our mutual protection against the 
encroachments of Northern fanaticism." 



SMITH'S ATTITUDE 185 

party, and threatened its integrity also. The anti- 
Benton element in the Democratic party not only 
questioned the soundness of Benton's followers 
upon the slavery question, but in their newspapers 
and in their public discussions tried to force every 
Whig candidate for office to take sides in the con- 
troversy. It was a trying ordeal through which 
they were compelled to pass as well as the Demo- 
crats. 

There were many faint-hearted, cowardly men, 
who tried to evade the issue and to profit by the 
dissensions in the Democratic ranks ; but General 
Smith was not one of them. He was a Kentucky 
Whig after the model of Henry Clay. His South- 
ern birth and education, however, did not extin- 
guish the national impulses and patriotic fire that 
burned in his heart. He loved his whole country, and 
his life was consecrated to the purpose of holding 
the States together in one common bond of union, 
and in promoting the best interests and developing 
to the largest extent and in the most rapid manner 
every element of material wealth within its bound- 
aries. Whilst he was a pronounced partisan and 
clung with great tenacity to the creed and policy of 
his party, he did not seek a place in the State legis- 
lature for political purposes. He met courageously 
every political issue involved in the campaigns of 
1854, and did not deceive any portion of his constit- 
uency in regard to his position upon the admission 
of slaves into the territories. He was not himself 
deceived as to the true purpose and object of the 
Kansas-Nebraska bill, and knew that the Southern 
wing of the Whig party was really in sympathy 
with the advocates of that measure. He enter- 
tained grave fears as to the ability of his own party 
to avoid disruption from the same cause that had 
produced a division of the Democrats. But none 



i86 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

of these things moved him. The object that en- 
grossed his attention and commanded his best 
thoughts and energies was the development of the 
resources of the State of Missouri. His home and 
his interests were all here. He had examined care- 
fully the vast area of fertile lands lying west of the 
State capital and extending from the Missouri river 
to the southern boundary of the State. He saw 
that the key to that territory was neither the Mis- 
souri nor the Osage rivers ; that the settlement and 
improvement of that vast body of rich land could 
only be secured within a reasonable time by the 
building of a main line of railway from east to 
west through the best portion of it. He knew that 
when that was accomplished branches would be 
thrown out in various directions, and that other 
lines would cross or intersect it at such points as 
would in a short time reach every portion of the 
great Southwest. Then this main line must of 
necessity pass through his county and be within 
reach of his own domicile. It is true that he must 
have seen that the line west of Jefferson City and 
running in the direction of Kansas City would 
necessarily be so located as to benefit him individ- 
ually ; but he was too broad and liberal in his views 
to have been controlled by mere selfish considera- 
tions. An enlightened self-interest has been the 
great motive power by which some of the largest 
public benefits have accrued to the world. Individ- 
ual victories and successes in the promotion of pub- 
lic improvements are the incidents which rightfully 
belong to the enterprising men who devote their 
time and energies to the work. General Smith was 
not indifferent to the poHtical questions of the day. 
He did not lose his interest in the plans and exped- 
ients which were deemed necessary to the success 
of his own party organization ; but as a State legis- 



THE RAILROAD CAUSE 187 

lator he had a desire and a purpose which domi- 
nated for the time being all other aims connected 
with his legislative career. It was the main purpose 
for which he had sought and obtained a seat in 
the legislature, and to its accomplishment he bent 
all his energies and directed all his thoughts. 

How near the railroad cause was to General 
Smith's heart, and how completely it overshadowed, 
in his view, all other issues for Central Missouri, 
may be seen from a letter to friends of the road in 
Cooper county. As few of his letters to others 
than members of his family have been preserved, it 
is given entire. 

Georgetown, June 12th, 1854. 
Dear Sirs : 

Before this reaches you, you will have heard 
what we have done with our railroad. We have let 
the whole route from Jefferson City to its western 
terminus in Jackson county. In order that we may 
be enabled to complete it, we have yet much to do, 
not only by additional subscriptions, but by legisla- 
tive aid. 

I have been requested by the Directors to enter 
again upon the task, — to appeal to the friends of 
the road, and ask them once more to come forward 
and aid in this great enterprise. I shall in due 
time send out my appointments, so that you all shall 
know the times and places where I will address you. 
There is nothing wanting but one vigorous united 
efifort, and in three years (perhaps less) we shall 
have the whole road completed to Kansas, or wher- 
ever we may wish to terminate. I believe your 
county can be induced to subscribe $100,000 of stock 
to the road. There is no longer any question of 



i88 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

location ; that is settled. Many who were for Boon- 
ville will now, I doubt not, go for subscribing in 
their corporate capacity, in order that they may have 
the advantages of the road. 

The limits of a letter will not allow me room to 
present all I wish. You have your candidates out ; 
it will be worse than suicidal for the friends of the 
road to vote for anyone. Whig or Democrat, who 
will refuse legislative aid to the road. It may be, 
one single vote may defeat us in the legislature; 
then how important it is that we should look well 
to the feelings, opinions, and capacity of those we 
bring forward to represent us ! We want the best 
men, and it matters not whether they are Whigs or 
Democrats, so they are right upon this subject. 

There can be no objection to a vote at your next 
election whether your county shall take stock in the 
road or not. Catechize your candidates upon this 
subject, and if both are not for it, and also for legis- 
lative aid, run those who will go for it. I intend to 
visit your county and discuss the question. If your 
candidates are right, the task will be an easy one ; if 
they are against it, no effort of mine or anyone else 
can change or induce your county to take stock. 

If we move forward as we should, all is safe ; the 
road can easily be made. If divisions exist, and re- 
fusals of friends to aid us, all I fear is lost. I am, 
Very truly, your friend, 

G. R. Smith. 

Col. A, K, Longan, and others. 

From a previous letter it is evident that General 
Smith's opposition to Benton had largely disap- 
peared. It is probable that the staunchness with 
which the latter was upholding the cause of the 
Union against Southern aggression and disunion- 



BENTON AND THE RAILWAY 189 

ist tendencies, was one of the reasons for this 
change of attitude; but other and perhaps more 
potent considerations are revealed in the letter 
given below. It is from John D. Stevenson, of 
Union, Mo., dated June 5, 1853, and reads in part 
as follows : 

The conclusion of your letter leads me to infer 
that the devotion of Old Bullion to Missouri's true 
interests is not unnoted by you. There is no doubt 
of one fact, that every man in the State of Missouri 
who desires at heart that the great national highway 
shall traverse Missouri's soil, involuntarily turns to 
Benton, and in him they recognize the most able 
champion of that great work. The return of Ben- 
ton to the Senate of the United States has now be- 
come a State necessity, a question of vastly more 
importance than any of the political issues presented 
by himself or enemies ; and must be the controlling 
question in our next State elections, for the rea- 
son that the prosperity of Missouri in every point 
of view is dependent upon the accomplishment of 
this work. Incidentally Benton's return will be con- 
sidered a party triumph ; and rightly it should be so, 
because the anomalous position of his opponents, — 
opposing to a man the central route, which is the 
hope of Missouri, thus antagonistical to her most 
vital interests, — would, it seems to me, force every 
man in the State who can look at the true interests 
of the State to desire the overthrow of such a party 
as is organized against Benton. 

These anti-Benton men, — and with us they are to 
a man in favor of a southern route, — look to their 
success as another spoke in the secession and dis- 
union wheel, and oppose the central route because 
they know it will more closely cement the bonds that 



190 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

bind this Union together. It seems to me, then, that 
it is a solemn duty, to be discharged by every man 
who has for one instant looked at the true interests 
of the State, and in whose heart there is one pulsa- 
tion of devotion to this Union, to be found at work 
for the central highway, for Missouri's true policy, 
for Benton, — all of which, in my estimation, are 
synonymous. 

In spite of this exhortation, General Smith sup- 
ported the Whig candidate, against both Benton 
and Atchison, on every ballot in which he partici- 
pated.^ Forty-one ballots were cast before adjourn- 
ing the first session of the Eighteenth General As- 
sembly ; on the last the vote stood much as it had 
on the first, namely — for Atchison 58, for Benton 38, 
for Doniphan 56. 

The apparent inability of the Whigs to elect Doni- 
phan, led some of them to consider the substitution 
of some person who might win enough votes to pro- 
cure an election. Such a suggestion was made to the 
Pettis county representatives in a letter from John 
C. McCoy, one of their constituents, under date of 
January 17, 1855 : 

I like the course the Whigs have taken thus far 
[he writes], but I believe that some other name 
would, at this time, gain some votes. I have been 
traveling through several counties since the first of 
December. I have heard the subject discussed nu- 
merous ways, and within the two last days, I have 

^ He was absent from Friday, January 26, 1855, to Wednesday the 
31st, during which time the twenty-seventh to the thirty-seventh 
ballots, inclusive, were taken. 



BALLOTING FOR SENATOR 191 

seen several Democrats on their way home from 
Jefferson ; and I hear but one opinion from them, 
and that is, that J. S. RolHns of Boone, or J. G, Mil- 
ler of Cooper, would receive enough Benton votes 
to elect ; and if so, I can not see why Rollins is not 
as acceptable to the Whigs as Doniphan. I have seen 
him carry the Whig flag as independently, and do 
as good battle for the cause, — yes, and once when 
Doniphan refused to carry it ; and so of Mr. Miller. 
I think a Whig who doubts the Whiggery of either 
of them is himself tainted with some foreignism, 
and has affinities for abstractions. All the Whigs I 
have conversed with on the subject have a little more 
confidence in Rollins or Miller than in Doniphan ; 
and think that the party owes more to Mr. Rollins 
than to any Whig in the State ; and believe him as 
true a Whig, — yes, just a little better, — and as com- 
petent. And I think the idea of getting reliable sup- 
port from the Anti's is all moonshine. They made 
great pretensions when you were a candidate, — had 
great desires to promote your election, — but the poll- 
book tells a different story. And so in all their con- 
tests. They have but one idea ; that is, get office, 
get power, promote self. I heard our Sheriff Burns 
say to-day that from what he could learn Rollins 
could be elected, as he thought the Bentons would 
vote for Rollins enough to elect him. He left Jeffer- 
son City Tuesday, and he feels sure that such is the 
fact. I will only add, I am a Whig and will always 
vote for a Whig when possible. I hate Loco Focos, 
and snakes with angular flat heads. I always viewed 
them as being more dangerous when alive than 
dead. 

General Smith's mind had probably already turned 
toward John G. Miller, at that time the Whig repre- 
sentative in Congress for the Pettis county district. 



192 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Toward the end of January he addressed a letter to 
him at Washington City, to which the following re- 
ply, dated February 8, was received : 

I feel very much gratified to know that your kind 
feelings and generous confidence have suggested my 
name to you for the United States Senate. I have 
watched with deep interest the progress of your 
joint sessions, was gratified to see the union which 
prevailed, at first, among our friends, and pained to 
know at last defection should show itself. I do not 
believe from the indications that you will make an 
election at your present sitting. Should you adjourn 
until autumn, something may then be effected. I do 
not believe the Democracy can harmonize, and my 
conviction has been for some time that we should 
have a Whig or no Senator in Atchison's place. 

Mr. Miller's forecast of the outcome of the sena- 
torial struggle proved correct. Owing perhaps to 
the "protracted illness" from which he was then suf- 
fering, and which within a few months ended his 
life, his own name was not seriously considered. 
After the forty-first ballot, taken on February i, no 
further ballots were taken at this session; and on 
March 5, 1855, the General Assembly adjourned, to 
meet again the first Wednesday in November, with- 
out having chosen a Senator. When the legislature 
reassembled, the struggle began anew, with few new 
features. General Smith wrote from Jefferson City 
(November 27) to his wife: "It is said there is a 
trade going on with the Anti's and Doniphan by 
which they intend to elect two Senators instead of 



NO ELECTION 193 

one; whether it is true or false, I of course do not 
know." If such a measure was in contemplation it 
failed, as did all other attempts to break the dead- 
lock; and when the legislature finally adjourned, 
December 13, 1855, no joint session had been held 
and no election had taken place. 

We turn now to the consideration of a matter 
which, in the view of General Smith, was more im- 
portant than any purely political question, — ^the aid- 
ing of the nascent railroad system of the State. 

Judge Fagg well says, in speaking of General 
Smith's labors for the Pacific railroad, that it was 
"the pet scheme of his life, and the one upon which 
he lavished all the wealth of his time, talents, and 
most devoted attachment." The zeal, ability, and 
success with which he had carried through the cam- 
paign for the location of the road on the inland 
route, led the Directors, in January, 1854, to appoint 
him their agent to collect the subscriptions west of 
Jefferson City. This work he pursued with energy 
and success, until relieved by the appointment of 
other agents, June 13, 1855. He made a canvass of 
the counties concerned, speaking at a number of 
places and explaining the need of responding readily 
to the calls issued by the Company against the sub- 
scriptions. "Rumors," he wrote in a letter to the 
Lexington Express, ''are rife through the country 
of repudiation and refusal to pay" ; these he set him- 
self to counteract. In a subsequent letter to this 
newspaper (February 20, 1854) he gives an encour- 



194 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

aging report of his progress ; up to that time he 
knew of "but one man who refuses to pay his call," 
and this he understood "arises from a misconception 
on his part of the object of the call." His collections 
far surpassed his expectations. Soon after this the 
Treasurer of the Company wrote that he was "grat- 
ified to hear" that he had met with such success, and 
hoped that it would "continue to the end." This 
hope was not wholly fulfilled ; but the task of the 
Company was certainly made easier by General 
Smith's labors. From this time on he was gradually 
taken more and more into consultation by the officers 
of the road. On May 12, 1854, the Secretary wrote 
informing him that contracts for the construction of 
the third and fourth divisions were to be let, and so- 
liciting him to be present at the meeting of the 
Board to consider them. Soon after he was formally 
made a member of the Board of Directors, a position 
which he held for several years. 

The needs of the roads, and the plans devised for 
meeting them, are indicated in the following extract 
from a report to the General Assembly presented by 
a joint committee on internal improvements, of 
which General Smith was a member : 

The joint committee of the Senate and House of 
Representatives on internal improvements have had 
under consideration several measures proposed for 
aiding the completion of the railroads of the State. 
It was evident that the railroads had not progressed 
as rapidly as had been expected, and that some 
means must be devised to help them. It did not seen' 



REPORT ON RAILROADS 195 

prudent for the State to assume the construction of 
the roads, or to advance to individuals the large 
amount necessary. The whole capital needed not 
being available in the State, a great portion must be 
borrowed from the accumulation of foreign wealth. 
A little examination showed the committee that the 
source of difficulty was in the lien held by the State 
on the different roads, and thus necessarily retarded 
the negotiation of loans abroad. The committee be- 
lieve that the principle on which State aid was orig- 
inally given to the railroads was correct, viz : one 
dollar from the State (to a fixed amount) for every 
dollar from private sources, and that the State 
should have priority of claim. But the committee 
also believe, that this priority of lien of the State 
should be on the private stock, and not on the road 
itself, and that the road itself, so fast as built, should 
be used as a credit on which to borrow money from 
abroad, for their construction and completion. 

A bill was therefore proposed in which the lead- 
ing ideas were as follows : no increase of State credit 
to roads to which aid had been extended, except to 
equalize the Iron Mountain railroad ; authority 
given to the companies to make first mortgage on 
the road for money borrowed, to be only applicable 
to the construction of the particular road ; for every 
dollar of bonds from the State, a dollar to be paid 
in from stock, without lien on road ; deposit with the 
Governor of guaranteed or preferred stock, to insure 
prompt payment of interest ; State to have two Di- 
rectors ; Board of Public Works, having no control 
over management of the works, but with power to 
examine into the construction and management, and 
in case not satisfied, they, with the Governor, may 
stop issue of more bonds, and may, through the Su- 
preme Court, enjoin all bonds; the private stock 
(equal in amount to the State aid) not to get profits. 



196 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

interest, or dividend, from any means of the com- 
panies, whether directly or indirectly, until all lia- 
bilities have been provided for, including State aid, 
sinking fund, etc. 

In the campaign to secure a release of the State 
lien, General Smith took an active part ; and at the 
request of the publisher, Mr. William J. Mayo, he 
wrote a series of articles for the Osceola paper. But 
the subject was one which afforded aspiring poli- 
ticians too excellent an opportunity "to play the dem- 
agogue as the peculiar protectors of the people from 
increased taxation, which they contend would be the 
necessary result of the release of the State lien" 
(letter of William J. Mayo, May 30, 1855; and the 
movement was foredoomed to failure. In a letter 
dated September 19, 1855, Mr. A. S. Mitchell, of 
the St. Louis Intelligencer, sets forth the situation 
as follows : 

Yours of the thirteenth is received, containing 
your earnest protest against the remarks of the In- 
telligencer of the eighth inst. in regard to the 
release of lien. I sympathize in your surprise and 
regret at the tone of the article complained of, but I 
assure you the lines were written with a perfect 
conviction that the release of lien is impossible. But 
the roads will not therefore fail. They will go for- 
ward rapidly. I am satisfied that the release would 
not be politic, and that better measures will be 
adopted to complete our system of roads. 

Two of the St. Louis county Senators have de- 
clared against the release. So has Brown of the 
House (of the Democrat), and you may set down 



STATE LIEN RETAINED 197 

the Benton Representatives of this county the same 
way. Parks, of St. Charles, is here, and against the 
release. Carson has been instructed against it. 
Twenty papers in the State have avowed opposition, 
— two in St. Louis, the Democrat and the Mirror; 
the Republican doggedly neutral. The lien is lost, 
and it was before we admitted the fact in the Intelli- 
gencer. But the roads will not stop, be assured. 

By the year 1855, the State had voted the issue 
of bonds in aid of the railroads to the amount of 
$9,000,000, of which amount $3,000,000 were for 
the Pacific road. The progress of construction on 
the roads up to the close of that year, is thus sum- 
marized : "The Pacific railroad had almost reached 
Jefferson City, and had consumed the entire amount 
of State aid and almost all the city and county aid 
received. The North Missouri Railroad Company 
had completed the first division of its line, extend- 
ing from St. Louis to St. Charles, and had com- 
menced a second division, extending from St. 
Charles to a junction w^ith the Hannibal and St. 
Joseph ; and had drawn $600,000 of the State grant. 
The Hannibal and St. Joseph Company had some- 
thing over one hundred miles in process of con- 
struction, but no part completed ; it had drawn 
$580,000 of the State bonds granted. The St. Louis 
and Iron Mountain Company, although it had a 
'considerable portion' of its road under construc- 
tion, had completed no part of it ; of the State grant, 
$400,000 had been received. Taking into considera- 
tion the length of time that had elapsed since the 



198 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

beginning of the work of construction, it is thus 
seen that very Httle had been accomphshed. Only 
one road, the Pacific, had really made progress at 
a rate that could be called desirable, and this road 
had cost twice as much as had been estimated at 
the beginning of the enterprise. And . . . the 
cost of the work on all the other roads aided, so far 
as the companies had proceeded with the construc- 
tion, had already demonstrated that each of them 
would cost from 30 to 100 per cent, more than was 
originally estimated."^ 

Further grants of State aid to the roads seemed 
imperatively necessary, but conflicting interests 
jeopardized the success of the attempts to secure 
them. The Southwest Branch especially threatened 
to make trouble for the advocates of the main line 
of the Pacific railroad. The matter came to a head 
February 28, 1855, on a motion to amend a bill to 
aid the construction of the Pacific road. In resist- 
ing this attempt General Smith, — overcoming what 
he confesses to be his "established habit and well- 
known disposition to avoid debates," and despite 
the fact that he had already, the day before, in- 
dulged in "protracted remarks" on the subject, — 
made a speech of much length and force : 

They [the friends of the Southwest Branch] are 
loud and long in what they think is a want of good 
faith ; and to test that good faith, they come up and 
offer an amendment to this bill of ours in which 
we ask $300,000 more State credit to be applied 

^ Million, State Aid to Railways in Missouri, pp. 89-90. 



SOUTHWEST RIVALRY 199 

west of Jefferson City, when we have $850,000 of 
stock subscribed, $300,000 of which, as I stated 
distinctly on yesterday, is with conditions such as 
prevent us from using it, but which will be worth to 
the Company the amount. We state the reason of 
this request, and it is this : If the State will loan us 
$300,000 it gives us double the amount of money we 
now have to expend upon the road, and it enables us 
to continue the hands we now have on the road, 
numbering about 400. It will enable us to push on, 
slowly to be sure, but it enables us to go on with the 
work ; and we only ask one dollar in State credit for 
three dollars in private stock subscribed, and a large 
amount actually paid in. And a proposition so equi- 
table and just the gentleman ryders with an amend- 
ment (to test the good faith and sincerity of the 
Company) modestly asking that the legislature shall 
give to the Southwest one million of State credit, re- 
versing our proposition. We have three dollars in 
stock subscribed to one we ask credit for, and they 
very modestly ask three dollars of State credit to one 
they have subscribed ; and announce to us that tbis 
is the ultimatum, and if the friends of the Pacific 
road refuse this, thev will defeat this meritorious 
proposition. And this, they tell us, will test our good 
faith to the Southwest. . . 

Sir, I am wiUing to do, as gentlemen can bear 
testimony, more than any disinterested man will say 
I ought. But, sir, there is a point beyond which I 
will not go, though the road fail. That point is 
reached. . . 

The gentleman doubts much the Pacific Railroad 
Company, and he thinks if they cared anything about 
the interest of the Southwest, they would have sub- 
scribed $150,000, the amount they lack to make up 
the $500,000 in order that they can have an equal 
amount of State credit. 



200 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Sir, I tell the gentleman that if he will go home 
and use some of the zeal there to procure sub- 
scriptions that he does here to defeat the subscribers 
west of Jefferson, we would not hear their denuncia- 
tions against the Company. Sir, what has he done? 
I know where he lives and I know something of his 
property, and I know gentlemen who have not one- 
tenth of his means, living as far from the road as he 
does, who have taken from one thousand to twenty- 
five hundred dollars stock in this road ; and counties 
situated further from the road than his county 
(Polk) that have taken $50,000, whilst his has only 
taken $20,000. And the little county I have the 
honor to represent takes $170,000, whilst Greene 
county, which pays three times the revenue of Pettis, 
and has more than three times her wealth, takes the 
pitiful sum of $100,000. And now they have not the 
sum necessary to secure the advantages the law gave 
them; and now that they have not raised funds 
enough to secure the contract, they ask to tack on to 
our bill a proposition, such as has never been made ; 
and we are asked to legislate one million to gentle- 
men who have failed to help themselves ; and we are 
told and threatened that if we refuse they will defeat 
this bill. 

I have confidence in the good sense of this House. 
I have found wherever I have been a disposition in 
man to aid to the utmost those who have made ef- 
forts to help themselves. I appeal to gentlemen from 
all quarters to come up and help us, if those who 
ought to be our friends have turned our ene- 
mies. 

The opposition to the amendment was successful, 
and the bill was passed in form acceptable to the 
Pacific road, but failed to receive the Governor's 
assent. 



THE ''OMNIBUS" BILL 201 

When the legislature reassembled after the sum- 
mer recess, the whole question of additional aid 
to the roads was reopened ; and means were now 
found to reconcile all claims in a single bill, appro- 
priating the credit of the State to the amount of 
$10,000,000 to the various railroads, of which 
amount the Pacific road was to receive $3,000,000. 

Much has been said and written [writes Judge 
Fagg in this connection] against omnibus legisla- 
tion. Men have been greatly censured for their art 
in combining different interests and opposing ele- 
ments in order to secure the success of a measure 
which could not stand by its own strength. Much 
was said during the session of that legislature 
against the combination of a large number of pro- 
jected railroads in the State in order to secure the 
building of one or two lines of acknowledged public 
necessity. But the fact is, if it was right for the 
State in its corporate capacity to lend aid and as- 
sistance to the business of building railroads at all, 
not a dollar should have been voted without looking 
to a general system that sooner or later would fur- 
nish every section of the commonwealth with rail- 
road facilities. General Smith was honest in his 
convictions that the basis for such a system was a 
line starting from the city of St. Louis, the great 
commercial center of the Mississippi valley, and ex- 
tending westward toward the Pacific coast. Such a 
line was in no sense antagonistic to any other pro- 
posed line of road in the State. But then there was 
the Southwest, the Southeast, the Northeast and the 
Northwest, all entitled to a share in the State's 
bounty, and all anxious to reach the same common 
center. The work was really a unit, and no one pro- 
ject could be favored to the exclusion of the others. 



202 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

There was only one road that could be said to be in 
any sense antagonistic to the others, and that was 
the Hannibal and St. Joe. However, properly speak- 
ing, there was no antagonism between that and the 
other lines, as it would give the most rapid develop- 
ment to the Northwest that could have been ob- 
tained, and so that was also taken into the system. 

The prospects of the bill at first were far from 
flattering. Only two of General Smith's letters to 
his family, during the time of his legislative service, 
are extant. Both of these deal with the prospects 
of the bill ; and from one we learn the following de- 
tails : 

When I reached here [he writes to his wife, No- 
vember 27, 1855] a bill was before the Senate for 
our railroads. The friends of the measure had their 
hands full to electioneer with those who were looked 
upon as doubtful. The bill, if it becomes a law, will 
build our road to Georgetown in two years. Last 
evening it passed the Senate, where it originated. 
This morning it was reported to our House. Its pass- 
age here I do not regard as certain. The prospects 
are, however, favorable ; but it is said the Governor 
will veto it. If so, it will be very difficult to pass it 
over his head. There is one thing certain ; if we fail 
to pass some relief for our road, the whole subject 
of railroad building is at an end, for some years at 
least. We will take up the bill to-morrow. 

In the quiet work of influencing members who 
were adverse to the bill, General Smith was at his 
best. His early connection with the Pacific road, 
his membership in its Directory, his earnest zeal for 



SMITH'S PART 203 

the material betterment of IMissouri, and his native 
eloquence, all served to make him a leader. A 
graphic account of the situation, and of General 
Smith's services at this critical juncture, is given by 
Judge Fagg, who was himself a member of this 
legislature : 

It would be difficult to say who was the chief 
leader in the work done by that legislature towards 
the building of railroads in Missouri. I could not 
for the life of me tell who rendered the greatest 
amount of aid or the most efficient labor in the work 
of constructing the system or in arranging the de- 
tails of the legislation which was finally agreed upon 
by the railroad men at that session. But one thing 
I can truthfully say : no man was more devoted, — 
more constant, — more untiring in his labors and 
withal more hopeful of success than George R. 
Smith. He worked whilst other men slept. He had 
courage when others faltered. He had undoubting 
faith and confidence when others despaired of suc- 
cess ; and when the triumph finally came there was 
no heart in Jefiferson City so completely filled with 
proud satisfaction and joy as his. 

General Sterling Price, the then Governor of the 
State, was known to be opposed to what was de- 
nounced as a wild and visionary system of public 
improvements to which the State was asked to loan 
its credit; and the great fear was that, if a majority 
of the two houses could be induced to pass the bill, 
still it would be vetoed, and the required number 
could not be obtained to put it through notwith- 
standing the objections of the Governor. The veto 
was the one thing most dreaded of all others. Noses 
had been carefully counted in both houses, and it 
seemed to be reasonably certain that when the final 



204 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

vote came there would be a small majority in favor 
of granting State aid. But when the Governor, with 
the assistance of the best legal talent that he could 
command, should come to put his objections upon 
paper and gravely state his constitutional doubts 
and scruples, and especially to arraign the members 
before their constituents for the wild and ex- 
travagant expenditure of public money without any 
sufficient security for its return ; they knew that 
many knees would tremble, many a heart would 
grow faint, and that many a voice that had timidly 
and hesitatingly responded ''Aye" upon the passage 
of the bill would, when the final question should be 
put, answer "No." 

The situation was a grave one. Various influences 
were brought to bear upon the Governor to induce 
him to change his views. It seemed, however, that 
after everything had been tried he was fixed and 
immovable in his purpose not to put his signature 
to the bill. A banquet was finally arranged for at the 
City Hotel to which the Governor and every mem- 
ber of the legislature were invited, except those who 
were believed to be unalterably opposed to the bill. 
Some of the ablest men of each house were selected 
beforehand to present the claims of the bill and to 
furnish the facts and figures upon which, together 
with the argument of the constitutional questions 
involved, the doubting Thomases could go back to 
their constituents and justify a vote in favor of the 
law. There were many interesting and able speeches 
made during the evening; many that seemed to 
cover every point and to present the entire subject 
in the clearest manner possible. And yet when Gen- 
eral Smith spoke I was satisfied that no clearer or 
more forcible argument was made during the whole 
evening. It was not an occasion for oratorical dis- 
play. There were no studied phrases and no rhetor- 



A VETO ANTICIPATED 205 

ical figures of speech ; but the power and duty of the 
State to aid its people in developing the agricultural 
and mineral resources, which were so abundant and 
accessible, were presented by him in a way that was 
almost irresistible. I am sorry that that speech has 
not been preserved. It would furnish a most accu- 
rate and life-like picture of the man, and give a bet- 
ter idea of his work in the legislature, than could 
ever be given by others. 

Governor Robert ]\I. Stewart, under date of Sep- 
tember 16, 1859, wrote, at General Smith's request, 
the following statement concerning the course of the 
latter in this legislature : *'As I offered the bill 
which passed at the session, known as the Omnibus 
bill, and was the chairman of the joint committee 
which recommended its passage (of which commit- 
tee you were a member), I could not well be ignor- 
ant of the course pursued by the members of that 
committee, who were earnest and prominent in their 
efforts in behalf of or in opposition to the proposed 
legislation, — calculated, in my opinion, to foster and 
aid the paramount interests of and indispensable to 
preserve the honor and credit of the State. In re- 
sponse to your request, therefore, I am glad to be 
able to state that I well remember your course as 
having been characterized by a warm and consistent 
friendship for the railroad enterprises of the State, 
and a zealous and efficient advocate of the policy of 
granting State aid to our great trunk roads. You 
were the firm friend of the (so-called) Omnibus 
bill ; and so far as I have observed, you have ever 



2o6 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

advocated a liberal and enlightened policy in regard 
to our internal improvement interests." 

The situation before the decision of Governor 
Price was made known is depicted in the following 
note from General Smith : 

Jefferson City, December loth, 1855. 
My Dear Wife : 

We are still in doubt and fear for our bill. We 
have heard nothing from the Governor. It is sup- 
posed he will send in his veto to-morrow. My opin- 
ion is, he will not veto our bill. I think there is no 
doubt but we can pass it over his head. This may 
make him approve the bill. Never, perhaps, before 
were there such efforts made to carry a measure 
as we are making for this. I think there is but little 
doubt but that we will pass the bill. 

Kiss the children ; will be at home about Thurs- 
day, if I can get off. Affectionately, 

G. R. Smith. 

As to the Governor's decision General Smith's 
guess proved incorrect, but his confidence in the 
ultimate passage of the bill was well founded. The 
account of this action may be given in the words of 
Judge Fagg: 

The veto came at last and with it the most intense 
excitement that was ever witnessed in the hall of 
Representatives. The message was read and listened 
to in the most profound silence on the part of the 
members. When the ballot was taken and the 
Speaker announced the passage of the bill,^ there 

^ December 10; the vote on reconsideration stood, in the Senate, 
20 to 1 1 ; in the House, 67 to 49. 



PASSED OVER VETO 207 

was the wildest scene that I have ever witnessed in 
any assembly of men. Members ran across the hall 
and clasped each other in their arms, and laughed 
and shouted until they were hoarse. General Smith's 
chair seemed to be the center of hilarity, hand- 
shakings, and congratulations. At the suggestion of 
]\Iajor James S. Rollins, I attempted a pencil sketch 
of the General as he lay back in his chair, his feet 
extended upon the desk before him and his whole 
frame convulsed with laughter. The picture had no 
merits except as a part of the ludicrous scene pre- 
sented by the entire body. George C. Bingham, the 
Missouri artist, was present and after giving it some 
finishing touches wrote underneath, "The passage 
of the railroad bill." He was kind enough to say 
in my hearing that there were some evidences of 
neglected genius about it. 

"I well remember my father coming home after 
the session," says Mrs. AI. E. Smith, in speaking of 
these events, ''bringing with him two of the mem- 
bers, B. Gratz Brown and A. J. Blakey, to spend 
the Christmas holidays. They were flushed with 
victory, and right royally did they recount around 
our fireside the ways and means that led to its 
achievement, yiy sister and I were young ladies, 
and like the girls of the period little accustomed to 
mingle in politics ; and whilst in the result we were 
sympathetic and exultant, I can not now give the 
details which they day by day related at the table 
and fireside. Our mother, dear blessed saint, took 
it all in ; and that our parents endorsed it was 
enough for us to feel that it was all right." 

The rejoicing was somewhat premature, as it 



2o8 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

proved, for the constitutionality of the grant was 
questioned by the Governor and Attorney-General, 
and had yet to stand the test of the Supreme Court 
of the State. Information of this new development 
was conveyed to General Smith in a letter from B. 
Gratz Brown, written on his return to Jefferson 
City, and dated January i, 1856: 

I write in accordance with my promise to you im- 
mediately upon my arrival in this city. It is with 
deep regret that I have to inform you that I have 
within the last half-hour had a conversation with 
Mr. Gardenhire the Attorney-General, who informs 
me that the Governor has called upon him for his 
opinion, which he is now writing out. That opin- 
ion is to the effect that the manner of the passage 
of the Omnibus bill was entirely unconstitutional, 
and he therefore recommends the Governor not to 
issue the bonds. Under these circumstances the 
Governor will no doubt refuse to issue them, and we 
may all prepare for a contest before the Supreme 
Court. 

My very best regards to Mrs. Smith, and also to 
Miss Bettie and Miss Sed. We had quite a pleasant 
trip down, and met with neither action nor deten- 
tion. 

Fortunately the decision of the Supreme Court 
was not long deferred. Under date of January 31, 
1856, Thomas L. Price wrote to General Smith from 
the capital : 

The country is again safe ! The Court is unani- 
mous that the railroad law is constitutional. Your 
town ought to celebrate the occasion. Call a meet- 



THE ACT CONSTITUTIONAL 209 

ing ; pass strong resolutions ; say what you please 
about captious opposition, etc., etc., by the Governor ; 
and send to Lusk for publication. Do not fail. 

Under the same date, James Lusk himself wrote 
from Jefferson City : 

I have just returned about one hour from the 
Capitol. The decision of the Supreme Court was 
given this morning in favor of the constitutionality 
of the law, — Judge Ryland concurring. Judge Leon- 
ard dissenting as to the jurisdiction of the Court, 
but agreeing in the constitutionality of the law. 

This is a glorious day for Missouri. 



CHAPTER IX 

SLAVERY AND THE KANSAS TROUBLES 

(1854-1855) 

The Kansas-Nebraska bill — Rival colonizations of the Ter- 
ritory — Senator Atchison and Governor Price on the 
situation — Missouri interference in Kansas elections — 
General Smith defines his position — Reception of his 
letter — Rise of civil war in Kansas — Missouri sentiment 
— General Smith urged to use his influence to restore 
order — Effects of Kansas troubles upon his interests — 
The Spencer incident. 

The attack upon General Smith's position as Rep- 
resentative of the people of Pettis county, mentioned 
in the preceding chapter, was due mainly to dis- 
satisfaction with his attitude on the Kansas trou- 
bles, and a feeling that he was "unsound" on the 
question of slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska bill re- 
ceived President Pierce's signature and became law 
May 30, 1854. 'Tt is safe to say," writes a recent 
historian of this period, "that, in the scope and con- 
sequences of the . . . act, it was the most mo- 
mentous measure that passed Congress from the day 
that the Senators and Representatives first met, to 
the outbreak of the Civil War. It sealed the doom 
of the Whig party ; it caused the formation of the 

210 




GEORGE R. SMITH 
Aged Fifty -One 



KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT 211 

Republican party on the principle of no extension 
of slavery ; it roused Lincoln and gave a bent to his 
great political ambition. It made the Fugitive Slave 
law a dead letter at the North; it caused the Ger- 
mans to become Republicans ; it lost the Democrats 
their hold on New England ; it made the Northwest 
Republican ; it led to the downfall of the Democratic 
party."^ 

By its provisions, the Missouri Compromise was 
in express terms repealed ; and the principle of 
"popular sovereignty," as it was styled by Douglas, 
the author of the bill, was declared to be the policy 
of Congress on the question of slavery in the Ne- 
braska country. At once rival streams of immigra- 
tion began to pour in, and rival settlements were 
formed. The people of Western Missouri were 
strongly pro-slavery, and determined that Kansas 
should be a slave State; while the people of New 
England, stirred up by the Emigrant Aid Com- 
pany, were equally determined that it should be free. 
At first the immigration on both sides was bona 
fide, and peaceful ; it was not until later, when force 
was needed to meet force, that Sharpe rifles were 
furnished the free-Sta,te men by their friends, and 
howitzers became a part of the equipment of free- 
State settlements. In October, 1854, began the 
formation in Missouri of numerous secret societies 
called *'Blue Lodges," whose object was, legally or 
illegally, to secure the extension of slavery into 

^ Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 
1850, 1, p. 490. 



212 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Kansas.^ These at once put a different face on the 
struggle. The position assumed by the slaveholders 
of Missouri, thenceforth, is revealed in a speech de- 
livered by Senator D. R. Atchison at a meeting in 
Platte City. 

General Atchison [reports the Platte Argus of 
November 6, 1854] said his mission here was if 
possible to awaken the people of this county to the 
danger ahead, and to suggest the means to avoid 
it. The people of Kansas in their first elections 
would decide the question whether or not the slave- 
holder was to be excluded ; and it depended upon a 
majority of the votes cast at the polls. Now, if a 
set of fanatics and demagogues a thousand miles off 
could afford to advance their money and exert every 
nerve to abolitionize the Territory and exclude the 
slaveholders, when they have not the least personal 
interest, what is your duty, when you reside in 
one day's journey of the Territory, and when your 
peace, your quiet, and your property depends upon 
your action? You can without exertion send five 
hundred of your young men, who will vote in favor 
of your institutions. Should each county in the State 
of Missouri only do its duty, the question will be 
decided quietly and peaceably at the ballot box. If 

1 The circumstances of General Smith's refusal to join such a 
lodge have been preserved. He was spending the evening with a 
personal and political friend, in a neighboring town, when he was 
informed there was a secret organization that met that evening in 
the Court House. He was asked to join it, as it was for the pro- 
tection of all, and he was told he would be greatly pleased with it. 
He accompanied his friend to the place, and found the society to 
consist of some forty members. A Bible was produced, and it was 
proposed to swear him to do all in his power to make Kansas a 
slave State. This he at once declined; and when they attempted 
to argue with him, he only replied: "I am not a fit subject for 
your organization, and by your leave I will retire." 



PRO-SLAVERY POSITION 213 

we are defeated, then Missouri and the other South- 
ern States will have shown themselves recreant to 
their interests, and will deserve their fate.^ 

The perverted view of the anti-slavery agitation 
which is contained in this speech, is more clearly 
revealed in the message which Governor Price sent 
to the General Assembly, December 2J, 1854: 

It is with pain and solicitude [he said, towards 
the close of that document] that I announce to you, 
that our relations to our sister States, and to the 
Union, are not such as to give us assurance that the 
Constitution will be held sacred, and the Union per- 
petuated. More than thirty years ago, emissaries 
were dispatched into the Northern States and very 
recently into the Southern States, by the enemies of 
constitutional liberty in Europe, furnished with 
means to propagate slander and falsehood, and ex- 
cite the meanest and most degraded prejudices of 
the human heart. These agents have performed the 
task allotted to them with unceasing vigilance and 
determined perseverance. A brief space of time only 
had elapsed, before they succeeded in rallying 
around them a party of desperate and unprincipled 
men w^ho, assuming the office of missionaries, have 
continued to preach a crusade against the institution 
of slavery. Emboldened by their success in mislead- 
ing the ignorant and unwary, and exciting a morbid 
and fanatical religious sentiment, they have not hesi- 
tated recently to avow themselves open enemies of 
the Constitution and the Union. Such is the origin, 
such the character and the purpose of the Abolition 
party. 

The success of this treasonable design rendered 

^ Switzler, History of Missouri, p. 492. 



214 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

it an object with desperate and corrupt politicians 
in the Northern States to obtain the votes of the 
aboHtionists. For this purpose, a new party was or- 
ganized, under the specious name of the Free-soil 
party. Professing, in their public proceedings, ad- 
hesion to the Constitution, and yet constantly advo- 
cating unconstitutional schemes to further the de- 
signs of their abolition allies, they have acquired 
the confidence of that traitorous faction, whilst they 
have seduced into their toils large numbers of good 
men, who do not comprehend the inevitable conse- 
quences of the policy they advocate. 

This combination of heterogenous elements seems 
to have an elective affinity for all the ephemeral fac- 
tions that are engendered by local conflicts or tem- 
porary causes. There is an instinctive propensity 
that when these petty combinations are disbanded 
by the progress of events, their constituent elements 
must unite with the anti-slavery party. Their policy 
has been cautious and plausible. They affect to ad- 
mit that Cong-ress has no power to interfere with 
slavery in the States ; and yet if that is not the ulti- 
mate object, their whole system of operations is ab- 
surd. The chief ends aimed at hitherto, have been 
the exclusion of slavery from the Territories, and 
where they have failed in this, the exclusion of slave 
States from the Union, and the abrogation of the 
clause in the Constitution providing for the reclama- 
tion of fugitive slaves. 

They know well that success in these objects 
would give them a preponderance in our national 
councils, and enable them to violate the Constitu- 
tion still more grossly, in reference to the institution 
of slavery in the States. 

This message, with its distorted version of the 
origin and objects of the anti-slavery agitation, was 



ATTACK ON SMITH 215 

printed by order of the House of Representatives 
in both English and German, and twelve thousand 
copies were distributed throughout the State. The 
results of such utterances as those of Senator Atchi- 
son and Governor Price, in conjunction with the 
formation of the Blue Lodges, were speedily ap- 
parent in a heightening of pro-slavery ardor and in 
more vigorous measures with respect to Kansas. In 
the election held November 29, 1854, for a terri- 
torial delegate, 1,729 Missourians are credibly 
stated, in the report of the congressional investigat- 
ing committee, to have come over into Kansas to 
swell the pro-slavery vote. And in the election 
(March 30, 1855) of a territorial legislature, a regu- 
larly organized army of some five thousand armed 
men, are reported by the Democratic Governor of 
the Territory to have come over from Missouri, 
taken possession of the ballot boxes, and made a 
legislature to suit their wishes. 

The political attack upon General Smith had its 
connection with these events. In the same article 
in which he was stated to hold his seat "by accident 
rather than by the choice of the people," this charge 
was made : 

A Kansas meeting, or a meeting of the citizens 
of that county intending to emigrate to Kansas 
Territory, was called some weeks since at the court 
house, in Georgetown, where General Smith, as we 
understand, took occasion to denounce the action of 
the meeting, and used language altogether objection- 
able to his constituents ; and it is understood that 



2i6 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

petitions are now circulating in that county, praying 
him to resign his seat in the legislature. 

General Smith's reply to this charge was as fol- 
lows : 

Your informant certainly could not have told 
you what I did say in that Kansas meeting, for, sir, 
had he done so, I doubt not but that you would en- 
dorse what I did say ; and here I state that it is my 
deliberate opinion that I am sustained by a very 
large majority of the people of this county. On the 
day on which the Kansas meeting came off, I was 
met by several warm personal friends, and urged 
not to go into the meeting, stating that I would be 
called upon to define my position, and unless I went 
the whole length, that I would be crushed under 
this perfect avalanche of public feeling; and as they 
know that my opinions did not harmonize with some 
of the getters-up of that meeting, they thought it 
was best for me to stay away. This I preferred not 
to do. I went to the court house and found the meet- 
ing organized. After the object of the meeting was 
explained, it was stated by one of the speakers that 
he saw the Representative of the county in the 
house, and he desired to hear from him his views 
upon this subject. I then addressed the meeting, 
and Mr. Editor, here is about what I did say. I 
stated that I had been born in a slave State ; that I 
was born the owner of slaves, and had always owned 
them. That the larger portion of my property con- 
sisted in slaves, and that I presumed it was not 
necessary for me to make long and loud professions 
of my loyalty to the institutions of the South. That I 
desired to see Kansas a slave State ; that if it should 
not be, we would have non-slaveholding States upon 
three sides of us, and that slave property would be 



HIS REPLY 217 

almost valueless in Missouri ; the ease with which 
our slaves could go to Kansas, the protection they 
would receive from the abolitionists, made me de- 
sire as much as anv one in that meeting that Kansas 
should be a slave State. That this consideration, 
however important to me as I regarded it in a pe- 
cuniary point of view, was nothing in comparison to 
obligations under which I was then placed ; I was 
then and am now under an oath to support the Con- 
stitution of the United States, the Constitution of 
Missouri, and demean myself faithfully in office. If 
the object of that meeting was to induce settlers to 
move into Kansas, as we have emigrated to Mis- 
souri, bona -Rde settlers, then I am as warmly in 
favor of the movement as any gentleman here, and 
will aid as liberally as any one to induce such to go 
to Kansas. 

But if the object is to induce persons to go to 
Kansas merely to vote, and who never intend to be- 
come citizens of that Territory, and who are citizens 
of Pettis and intend to remain such, — and such I 
understood to be the position of the gentleman, sir, 
who had explained the object of the meeting, — then, 
sir, I am opposed to this movement, and my advice 
to every one who hears me is to stay at home and at- 
tend to his own business, and not add to that too 
highly excited sectional feeling already, by inter- 
fering in the internal regulations of a community 
in which he never intends to live. Important as I 
considered it to my own interests in slaves that 
Kansas should be a slave State, I would not violate 
the laws of my country to make it so, nor would I 
advise others to do so ; that if I were to do so, I 
should at least regard myself as having violated my 
solemn oath to support the Constitution and laws of 
my country, however others might regard it. I pre- 
ferred the approbation of my own conscience to that 



2i8 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

of any earthly tribunal, and I here declare my de- 
termination to oppose any infraction of the laws of 
mv country, either by persons residing in slave or 
non-slaveholding States. I commented upon the vio- 
lent denunciations we had that day heard against 
the North. I endeavored to show the deep prejudice 
we must implant in the hearts of the youth who 
must soon take our places, by the violent denuncia- 
tion we had that day heard ; and I asked then, and 
now, how long can this glorious Union be preserved 
if we teach our children and neighbors such lessons ? 
I avowed my purpose to be to save my country from 
dissolution, which must inevitably follow unless far 
more temperate counsels prevailed than had been 
given on that day. In conclusion I read the dying 
warning of the father of his country ; and as it 
comes from one whom all have been taught to rever- 
ence, I will copy what he says, that those who per- 
haps may have forgotten what he says may read the 
rich legacv he has left us. Here it is : 

"In contemplating the causes which may disturb 
our Union, it occurs as a matter of serious concern 
that any ground should have been furnished for 
characterizing parties by geographical discrimina- 
tions, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and West- 
ern, whence designing men may endeavor to excite 
a belief that there is a real difference of local inter- 
ests and views. One of the expedients of party to 
acquire influence with particular districts, is to mis- 
represent the opinions and aims of other districts. 
You can not shield yourselves too much against the 
jealousies and heart-burnings which spring from 
these representations ; they tend to render alien to 
each other those who ought to be bound together by 
fraternal affection." 

I endeavored to impress upon those who heard 
me the importance of heeding the dying injunction 



HIS REPLY 219 

of Gen. George Washington. For myself, I stated, 
I would follow blindly where he led, and so long as 
I lived I was the sworn enemy of all who dared, 
with ruthless hand, to efface from the hearts of my 
countrymen his dying admonitions. 

And now, Mr. Editor, after calmly reviewing my 
course upon the occasion that brought your con- 
demnation, I reindorse every word and sentence 
then uttered, and I solemnly swear upon the altar 
of my country, under the broad stripes and bright 
stars of that flag, baptized in the blood of the mar- 
tyrs of the Revolution, to discountenance, when- 
ever, wherever, and by whomsoever made, any and 
every attempt to alienate one portion of this Union 
from the other. One word more, sir, and I shall 
have done. I have already said that I believed a 
large majority of the county sustained me in my 
course. I have heard that one or two gentlemen 
talked of getting up a petition to me to resign. I 
have stated that I will cheerfully do so whenever 
requested by a majority of my constituents. I do 
not believe that fifty persons can be found to sign 
such a petition ; I shall, however, as cheerfully re- 
tire as any one of whom you ever heard, whenever 
a majority of my constituents will signify their wish 
for me to do so. 

There is a ring of sincerity here which makes it 
impossible to doubt that it represents General 
Smith's exact convictions at the time. The influ- 
ences, referred to in an earlier chapter, which had 
been brought to bear upon him as a lad in Ken- 
tucky, had fixed in him an opposition to slavery in 
the abstract, which change of environment, growth 
of pecuniary interest in the institution, political am- 
bition, and the development of the Southern view 



220 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

that slavery was "a. good in itself for both races," 
had not been able to eradicate. Had he been a 
Northern man, surrounded by Northern influences, 
he would undoubtedly have become a Free-soiler or 
an Abolitionist ; had it not been for the influences 
to which he had been exposed in the formative pe- 
riod of his life, he might have held the ordinary 
Southern view. As it was, he was forced to take an 
intermediate position, which though to some extent 
difficult for a Northern man was in the highest de- 
gree honorable for one whose every interest, — pe- 
cuniary, social, and political, — demanded a more 
Southern opinion. None but a zealot or a fanatic 
could, in General Smith's position and with his ante- 
cedents, have come out in 1855 and advocated the 
immediate and unconditional abolition of slavery. 
What he did not hold at this time, as well as what 
he did, are alike marks of the soundness of his po- 
litical and moral character. 

The views expressed in this public letter were re- 
peated in many private utterances, and met with 
varying responses from his friends and corre- 
spondents. His old political associate and colleague 
in the legislature, J. Locke Hardeman of Saline 
county, thus met them, in a letter of June 10, 1855 : 

Your letter dated 31st May is to hand, and ac- 
companied by a number of the Jef¥erson City En- 
quirer containing your letter to the editor of the 
Southzvest Democrat. I had seen it before in the 
Boonville Observer and Lexington Express, as pub- 
lished by your request. 



ITS RECEPTION 221 

Having set yourself right before the pubhc in the 
communication referred to, I presume that you de- 
sire my individual opinion on the Kansas question 
and the duty of the citizens of Missouri. Unhappily 
you and I differ very widely in the latter case. 

When Missourians have seen her citizens robbed 
of their property, and themselves insulted and im- 
prisoned for merely appealing to the laws of the 
land that professed to guarantee the rights of prop- 
erty; — when they have seen the officers of the law 
shot down while in the discharge of their duty ; — 
have seen the legislative assembly ''address" a faith- 
sworn magistrate out of office because he would not 
violate his oath of office ; — legislative charters to 
Aid Societies whose avowed object was to colonize 
our frontier with those whose only object was to 
enact the same scenes of robbery and murder in our 
midst ; — what should Missourians do ? Shall they 
hear first the cries of murdered citizens ; the public 
declaration of war upon our legal rights ; see the 
marshalling of the forces ; witness their march 
through our very midst who are neutral territory 
because of the law, — yet they not respecting the 
rights of these neutrals, but aid in speeding away 
our slaves ; — finally, see them take up a commanding 
position, fortify it, unfurl their banner, and "let 
slip the dogs of war?" Shall we like babes cry for 
kindness, sympathy, and protection of the devour- 
ing tiger that knows no mercy, as we who have ap- 
pealed to violated laws before those who know no le- 
gal restraints? Or shall we, "like men who know 
their rights, and knowing dare to maintain them," 
meet the foemen upon their own ground and out- 
posts, dispute every inch of the way, and if neces- 
sary raze their fortifications to the ground ? 



222 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

"In peace there's nothing so becomes a man 
As modest stillness and humility; 
But when the blast of war blows in our ears, 
Then imitate the action of the tiger." 

The only question then is, Have we peace or 
war ? For war obliterates all treaties and obligations 
of law between belligerents. I think that war does 
exist ; that the most dangerous foes we have are 
those who, having a common interest with us, yet 
give moral aid to those who are preparing to de- 
stroy us and lay our country in waste, — ''crying, 
'Peace, peace !' when there is no peace." Nor are 
they to be prevailed on to keep quiet ; but as if they 
were real emissaries, "still attribute the tramp of the 
advancing enemy to the wind ;" and would lull us 
into a fatal security. I can not see why any man 
loyal to the institutions of his country should do so. 
If under peculiar restraints, if his oath of office re- 
quires him to keep quiet, let him do it ; but not in- 
terfere to paralyze the efiforts of those who would 
protect his and their rights by a manly effort and 
without fraud. 

By the Nebraska bill every man who happened 
to inhabit the territory at the time of the election 
was a qualified voter. No man was ever sworn that 
he would not go away. Then our men stood behind 
the law, as securely as those who march through 
our midst but to open fire upon us when they have 
sufficiently chosen their ground of attack. 

In conclusion, I would respectfully ask, If Kan- 
sas be settled by Abolitionists, can Missouri remain 
a slave State? If Missouri goes by the board, what 
will become of Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia? And 
with these last, what will be the end of all this, and 
the consequences to the South? If the end must be 
disunion, a civil and servile war, is it not better to 



ITS RECEPTION 223 

strike the blow now while the South is less weak- 
ened and there yet remains some love of country 
at the North? Perhaps this once glorious Union 
may survive the shock of a civil war ! This, God in 
His Providence only knows ; I know that Abolition 
and Union can not stand together. 

P. S. — In the foregoing you have a rather free 
and perhaps loose expression of my views on some 
of the points touched upon in your letter. You 
further refer to D. R. Atchison's course, and speak 
of conservatives. You know my course in the legis- 
lature has been made the subject of comment.^ I 
did then as I thought was right, and still think so. 
Yet I think that we of Missouri should never let 
Massachusetts colonize our frontier with the worst 
of her citizens, who are no lovers of the Union ; and 
if war must come, let the consequences be upon the 
heads of those who force it upon us. I however do 
not expect a public war. I expect that blood will 
flow — must flow — freely, before that conservative 
apathy will be overcome which you invoke. Indi- 
vidual and popular outbreaks will occur ; the North 
will see then that the demon of Nullification sits at 
her door to rob her children of their inheritance, of 
peace, and prosperity. It is impossible to abolish 
slavery and save the Union ; and both the North and 
South must suffer unheard-of evils in the contest. 
With the fall of the Union will be heard the knell 
of liberty ; and the experiment of republican gov- 
ernment will be proven to be a failure. Thrones now 
tottering will become firm ; while we, having lost 
our liberty, will have to struggle through centuries 
of border wars, and at last find peace, like France, 
in despotism. 

^ This refers, apparently, to Hardeman's voting throughout, 
in the Senatorial contest, for the Whig candidate Doniphan, and 

against Atchison. 



224 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

War makes way for ignorance, then superstition, 
and Roman Catholicism — itself a despotism of the 
souls and consciences of men. Happily for you and 
I, our days have been spent in the palmier days of 
the model republic, the like of which the world 
never saw before, nor ever will again. 

Take away the slave products of the nation, and 
we are commercially poor. Poverty begets depend- 
ence, and ignorance follows in its train with all its 
evils. 

Excuse the freedom of my style. In private and 
friendly letters, amendments and erasures are out 
of place. 

The above letter, with its misconception of facts 
and principles, was typical of the sentiments of the 
better class of the ardent advocates of Missourian 
intervention in Kansas. The strength of such senti- 
ments was probably greater than General Smith at 
this time knew. But he was not left alone in his 
fight against violence and fraud. The men whose 
opinions he most prized, and whose aid he most cov- 
eted, were largely on his side, as will be seen from 
the letters which follow, — the first of which, under 
date of May 24, 1855, was from Major James S. 
Rollins, of Columbia : 

Your favor of the 17th inst. was duly received, 
and also your printed letter to the Southwest Demo- 
crat. I read both with great satisfaction, and it is 
unnecessary for me to add that I endorse your posi- 
tion throughout, and commend you for having the 
courage to take it. Unless the conservative men of 
the country stand firm, and resist the spirit of reck- 
less and unprincipled fanaticism which a few dan- 



ROLLINS' ATTITUDE 225 

gerous demagogues are now inciting, there is posi- 
tively no predicting what is to become of our 
institutions. The most unobservant must have wit- 
nessed for years past the utter disregard for all 
proper legal restraint which was springinQf up over 
the country, leading to mobs, to slander, to destruc- 
tion of propertv, and even corrupting the public 
mind so far as to incite the getting up of armed ex- 
peditions against peaceful foreign governments.^ 
Sir, if these continue, 'twill not be long before our 
beloved country will be wrapped in the flames of 
civil war. And when that evil day shall come, in the 
name of God, who other than Omnipotence can di- 
rect the current ? Where is the pilot who will guide 
the vessel of State over the stormy billows? The 
French Revolution, confined to narrow territory, 

^ General Smith was cordially at one with Major Rollins in his 
abhorrence of mob violence under any circumstances. The follow- 
ing incident, narrated by the late Senator George G. Vest, in a let- 
ter bearing date February 2, 1885, clearly shows this: 

"I was present in the court house at Georgetown when the 
negro Sam was taken out by a mob at the head of which was George 
Anderson. The negro had committed the crimes of rape and mur- 
der, and the best men in Heath's Creek township were in the mob 
that took him out of the hands of the officers. This was in July, 
1853, the crimes having been committed on Sunday, which I think 
was the thiru day of the month, I was a very young lawyer then, 
and this was the first case in which I ever appeared. 

"When the negro was taken out of the court house, it was the 
intention of the crowd to hang him at once in the court house 
yard, but General Smith, Elder De Jarnatt and others pleaded 
with them to let the law take its course, and the matter was 
finally compromised by the keys of the county jail being taken 
from the sheriff, Mr. Killebrew, and the incarceration of the 
negro in jail with old Billy Rutledge as jailer for the mob. The 
negro made a full confession on the second day after he was put 
in jail, and in twelve days afterwards he was burnt at the stake 
in a hollow just north of Georgetown on the Heath's Creek road. 
General Smith did all that anyone could do to prevent any viola- 
tion of the law, and was conspicuous in his attempts to have the 
negro regularly tried; but the mob was composed of cool, deter- 
mined men, and all appeals to them were in vain." 



226 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

will have been a passive scene compared to that 
which we may encounter even in our day, in this 
boasted land of Liberty! I pray sincerely when I 
say, May God avert from us these terrible calami- 
ties! 

The demagogues are doing all in their power to 
get up excitement in this locality. Thus far they 
have not succeeded. They renew their effort on the 
second of June, when a public meeting is called in 

this place. The principal instigators here are , 

old (ex- Judge), and , the Irishman at the 

head of the College. I hope the conservative men 
will be out in full force. Let me tell you that no 
man is doing more to corrupt the pubUc mind of 
Missouri on these exciting questions than the afore- 
said , and I hope, in considering his merits, you 

will not let your religious prejudices outweigh your 
patriotism. 

I had the pleasure to receive from General Robert 
Wilson a letter yesterday. He assures me that the 
fillibusters will make no impression in Buchanan, 
Andrew, Holt, or Atchison counties ; that the excite- 
ment is confined chiefly to Platte, Clay, and Jack- 
son ; that there will be no change in Atchison's favor 
from that quarter. We should not hesitate to make 
the issue which Atchison and his mobocrats have 
tendered; and if the law-abiding conservative por- 
tion of Missouri, those indeed the real slave-owners, 
most deeply interested in this question, are over- 
powered, it will only be that much worse for them 
and the country. But I do not believe that in such a 
contest we would fail; the "sober second thought" 
contains in it a powerful retribution. Let us act ; if 
we err, it will be on the side of patriotism and of 
duty. 

Especially laudatory was a letter from Mr. C. A. 



OTHER LETTERS 227 

Tabler, of Lafayette county, who wrote, July 15, 

1855: 

I take the opportunity to express my approval and 
admiration of the stand you took in relation to the 
Kansas "wolf-hunt," more especially as you were 
the first man (as far as my observation went) who 
had the moral firmness to assume the right position. 
This proof of elevated principle will place you far 
above the demagogue in the estimation of honorable 
men ; but what is more important, is the example 
it furnishes. 

From Mr. Joe Davis, of Fayette, came the follow- 
ing letter, dated May 31, 1855 : 

Yours of the seventeenth is at hand, and I am 
truly glad to hear from you, and sincerely regret 
with you that a blind fanaticism has seized upon the 
public mind and is likely to run the country blindly 
into ruin. Atchison is succeeding to a "t" in get- 
ting the wind up for his re-election to the United 
States Senate ; and from the fever here now, I do 
not know that my seat in the General Assembly may 
not be vacated before November next, upon petition 
— as was threatened in your case. I saw your com- 
munication in the Enquirer, and heartily accord with 
all your views ; but the rage is running over us, and 
I say, Let it go. A meeting is to be held here next 
Monday to whitewash the Parkville mob and the 
Kansas voting, and they will resolve both here, and 
have things their own way. I believe I shall just 
let them go, and see how far they will go before 
they stop. 

The voting in Kansas by citizens of this State 
was practical nullification, call it by what name they 



228 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

may; and as to the justification, it is a very meager 
one that because you offend or disregard a public 
law of Congress, that gives me an excuse to do the 
same. 

Many Whigs who voted for me are now amongst 
the foremost men in the voting affair in Kansas, — 
have gone off after Atchison's lead ; and Atchison, 
who is at the head of this whole matter, may raise 
the wind, but is there not a reaction to come over 
this thing? These men who voted for Pierce may 
well run crazy now that he has shown the world that 
he is an abolitionist and sent Governor Reeder to 
Kansas, to make that a free State, in order to serve 
the cause of Abolitionists at the expense of the citi- 
zens of Missouri and Arkansas. We well told them 
of this thing before they voted for Pierce ; but the 
word ''Democracy" cured everything, and that great 
hero and patriot. General Scott, was beaten by the 
rotten "Yankee," Franklin Pierce. 

Now, sir, the government of this nation is totter- 
ing, and will fall unless the North holds her hand. 
They have nothing at stake but an imaginary phi- 
lanthropy which bids them Christianize and liberal- 
ize the world. We have our vested positive rights 
of property in our slaves. We can not surrender ; 
they must pause and recede, or all is gone. 

Meanwhile, the inflammation in Kansas came to 
a head. On the one side were "poor whites of the 
slaveholding States, and the adventurous spirits of 
Western Missouri, assisted to some extent by South- 
ern money, and led by Atchison and Stringfellow, 
who were playing a political game ;" on the other 
were "men from the North, actual settlers, and the 
same kind of people that we have seen in our own 
day leave their homes and emigrate to Southern 



CRISIS IN KANSAS 229 

California and Dakota."^ Governor Reeder, who 
had declared at the time of his appointment that he 
would have "no more scruples in buying a slave 
than in buying a horse," found it impossible to get 
along with the pro-slavery legislature of the Terri- 
tory, and was removed by the President. A code of 
laws was adopted in which the provisions relating 
to slaves, according to the congressional investigat- 
ing committee, were of a ''character intolerant and 
unusual even for that class of legislation." The free- 
State settlers, refusing to recognize the territorial 
government, held a convention of their own, adopted 
what is known as the Topeka Constitution, organ- 
ized a State government under it, and petitioned 
Congress for admission to the Union. So far there 
had been no collision between the opposing forces. 
Late in November, however, the opportunity was 
presented for a blow at Lawrence, the chief free- 
State settlement, by the rescue of a free-State 
prisoner from the hands of a pro-slavery sheriff. 
Appealing first to Missouri for aid, then to the pro- 
slavery Governor of the Territory, the sheriff 
raised an army of some twelve hundred men, with 
which Lawrence was besieged. This constitutes the 
so-called "Wakarusa War," which came to an end 
December 7, 1855, with the loss of one life. The 
Missourians were obliged to leave the Territory; 
and the substance of victory remained with the men 
of Lawrence. 

^ Rhodes, History of the United States, II, p. loi. 



230 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

The alarm which these events excited in the minds 
of conservative men in Missouri, and the wild talk 
indulged in by the more radical and irresponsible of 
the "border ruffians," are indicated in a letter to 
General Smith from Brinksly Hornsby, who resided 
near Independence, in the extreme Western part of 
the State. He had previously written him (August 
25) a letter of congratulation on the reaction which 
then seemed to be taking place, saying: 'T believe 
the people in this section award to George R. Smith 
no small part in putting the ball in motion, and if 
I am not mistaken will properly appreciate his valu- 
able services." Under date of December 11, 1855, 
in a letter marked by some incoherence and bad 
spelling, both corrected here, he expressed a more 
apprehensive view : 

I want to write to you, but it is uncertain whether 
you will get it. I suppose you know more about the 
events up here than I do, but I know more than I 
want to know. All is confusion here. We heard 
yesterday that they were still fighting at Lawrence, 
though it may all be false. There is one thing cer- 
tain, that nothing is allowed to pass the Wakarusa ; 
everything is stopped or destroyed. I started a drove 
of hogs to Kansas, and before getting them into the 
Shawnee nation had to turn them back. 

I do not pretend to say that the people of the Ter- 
ritory are all right; but there is one thing certain: 
the destruction of Lawrence has been threatened 
for months, and I have heard of several men saying 
that Lawrence would be burned on the 6th inst. 
Certain individuals were threatened to be killed in 
the neighborhood of Lawrence. 



CRISIS IN KANSAS 231 

It is intimated, or has been, that operations, if suc- 
cessful in Kansas, are to be commenced in Missouri. 
and every man be expelled or killed that it not right. 
This may seem a strange notion to you, but it is 
not more strange than other things. G. R. Smith, 
F. P. Blair, B. G. Brown, Missouri Democrat, Jef- 
ferson Enquirer, and some others are marked ob- 
jects down your way. This is from common report. 
It is all a notion about the political atmosphere being 
calm, and it does seem to me that the legislature 
ought to take immediate and decisive action. There 
is certainly danger in delay; the feeling is getting 
intense both ways. 

The situation, which was bad at the close of 1855, 
became worse in 1856. On May 21st came the de- 
struction of Lawrence, by "a swearing, whiskey 
drinking, ruffianly horde, seven hundred and fifty 
in number. The irony of fate," writes the historian 
Rhodes, "had made them the upholders of the law, 
while the industrious, frugal community of Law- 
rence were the law-breakers."^ The next day 
Charles Sumner was struck down on the floor of the 
United States Senate, by a brutal and cowardly as- 
sault, because of the vehemence of the language used 
by him in his speech on the "Crime against Kansas." 
Two days later, John Brown perpetrated the cold- 
blooded "Massacre on the Pottawatomie." These 
events precipitated a state of civil war, in which 
some two hundred lives and two million dollars 
worth of property were lost before the end of the 
year, free-State "jay-hawkers" vying with pro- 

'^ History of the United States, II, p. 158. 



2Z2 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

slavery "border-ruffians" in plundering settlers of 
the opposite party. 

These occurrences naturally were not without 
their influence in Missouri. A minister of hign 
standing and eminent piety — a dear friend of Gen- 
eral Smith, whose attitude was (in part) defined by 
his characterization of a certain newspaper as *'cor- 
rupt and abominable ; I would sooner indorse the 
New York Tribune" — wrote from a neighboring 
town on June 12, 1856, as follows : ''The recent 
events in Kansas excited our people after the old 
style for a moment, but it was only for a moment. 
The reaction has already taken place, and the con- 
servative feeling is now stronger and more openly 
avowed than it has ever been." From Lexington, on 
the other hand, R. C. Ewing wrote, June 18, 1856: 
''You had as well try to oppose an avalanche as to 
influence this Kansas excitement." And from Mr. 
Hornsby, whose report of threats in the West has 
already been given, came the following exhortation, 
under date of August 18, 1856: 

Knowing your position on the present unsettled 
state of the public mind, I take the liberty to address 
you a small note on the subject. It is well known 
by those who take the pains to inform themselves 
that things are transpiring in Kansas, and even in 
Missouri, that unless checked must certainly lead 
to a great deal of serious difficulty and bloodshed; 
and knowing you to be acquainted with many of the 
leading conservative men of the State, can you and 
they not start a movement by holding public meet- 
ings, or in some other way, to call out the conserva- 



EFFECTS 2^^ 

tive sentiment of the country and put a stop to the 
threatened catastrophe? Anything that I can do, 
tho' e'er so humble, will be done. If such a course 
be undertaken, I think Johnson county as a general 
thing will be right, of which I suppose you have no 
doubt. What are J. S. Rollins, F. P. Blair, and 
other conservative men doing? Do you feel like en- 
gaging in the work to restore peace, harmony, and 
union, and brotherly kindly feelings, as it was three 
years ago? Let me hear from you. 

It is not necessary to trace further the course of 
the Kansas troubles, or the influence which they ex- 
erted on Missouri affairs, save to point out certain 
ways in which they affected General Smith's inter- 
ests. The building of the Pacific road, which he had 
so much at heart, was checked by the inability of 
the Company to borrow money abroad. This was 
due, in part, as President McPherson wrote to Gen- 
eral Smith from London (October 20, 1856), to 
**the Kansas question and the exaggerated stories 
they have about Missourians in Kansas, going there 
to vote and control the elections, stopping emigrants 
on the way, and driving out settlers, etc., which they 
get here with all the coloring of the New York pa- 
pers ; and it makes it almost hopeless to talk about 
our railroad securities." Also, as will soon be seen, 
General Smith's outspoken views on the Kansas 
question cost him an election to Congress in 1856. 
Finally, the existence of a strong and growing com- 
munity of anti-slavery settlers in the neighboring 
Territory, led to an occurrence which cost the Gen- 
eral the services of three of his slaves, and inci- 



234 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

dentally throws much light on his character. This 
episode may best be told in the words of his 
daughter, Mrs. M. E. Smith : 

One hot September day in 1857, ^ young man 
named Henry Spencer called at our house, with 
knapsack on his back, and asked for a drink of 
water. It was noon ; dinner was on the table. The 
lad w^as well-dressed and his appearance indicated 
refinement. As he seemed tired, my father and 
mother with their usual hospitality asked him to sit 
down to dinner. The boy was communicative, as 
any boy of sixteen would be. Full of enthusiasm, 
and elated with his exploits, he began to relate his 
story. 

His father, it developed, was the American consul 
at Paris, and had been sorely tried by his son's be- 
havior. The boy's home was in Philadelphia, and he 
had been kept most of his short life in school, for 
which he had a strong aversion. Once before he had 
run away to escape it ; his mother was heartbroken, 
but his father was inflexible, and had said that if he 
ever did so again he would disown him. The boy's 
importunities had at last overcome his parent's oppo- 
sition, and much against their wishes and judgment 
he had been allowed to leave school and home. A 
good position had been obtained for him in a mer- 
cantile house in Cincinnati, with which the boy had 
seemed contented. The next thing heard from him, 
he had left Cincinnati, — ''under most disgraceful 
circumstances," as an uncle wrote General Smith, — 
and was on his way to Kansas. 



THE SPENCER INCIDENT 235 

Our father and mother [continues Mrs. Smith] 
tried to persuade the boy to abandon his trip to Kan- 
sas and go back to his parents. They told him of 
the great privations he would have to endure, and 
gave him an invitation to stay at our house, while 
father wrote to Mr. Spencer, telling him that his 
son was with them, and that they were willing to 
keep him until he could make his peace once more. 
They told the boy that he might be perfectly at 
home for as long a time as was needed for such 
negotiations. Our father's letter reached Mr. 
Spencer just before he sailed for Paris. The only 
reply he ever sent was a cold cruel letter, saying 
that if our father befriended the boy it must be at 
his own expense, as he would never compensate 
him. Cruel, cruel words ! 

Under the arrangement which had been made, the 
lad stayed with us for three weeks. He was de- 
lighted with the little negroes and the horses, and 
made no difference apparently between slaves and 
owners, — was just as happy with one as the other. 
The days were filled with joy in his new experi- 
ences. The horses, not being in use on the farm at 
that season, were at his service ; and he roamed over 
the fields, and galloped in boyish fashion over the 
roads. We were amused one morning at his ignor- 
ance. Our father had been much annoyed that 
morning to find that someone had tied the horses to 
a tree in the meadow where they had been turned 
out to graze over night. One after another of the 
negroes, when questioned, had replied : "I didn't, 
master." As the examination was coming to an end, 
young Spencer descended from his morning slum- 
bers, and as soon as he understood what was in 
question, he called out: "Why I did it;" adding 
triumphantly that it was thus so easy to catch them 
when wanted. At another time, when trying to play 



236 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the gallant, he vainly struggled to adjust the saddle 
to the horse's back, with the horn turned towards 
the tail. I can still see my father's wink and smile, 
as he signalled to us to let the boy alone to find out 
his mistake in his own way. 

One morning, at the end of three weeks, while 
our father was in St. Louis, we were surprised to 
find Juliet our cook — the mother and young grand- 
mother of all our negroes, except Henry — crying in 
the kitchen. On asking what was the matter, she 
said : "Henry is gone, and Harriet is gone, and 
Nancy is gone, and all the horses are gone." We 
found that young Spencer was also gone, and that 
our saddles were gone — a very suggestive state of 
affairs. My mother and I went over to the village 
and told the news, which spread through the sleepy 
little hamlet ; and before noon a dozen men, armed 
and mounted, had gone out in different directions 
in search of the fugitives. 

They were found on the western border of Mis- 
souri, — like Moses of old, just in sight of the prom- 
ised land. They were speedily halted and made to 
retrace their steps ; the captors, with much self- 
sacrifice, having decided to wait till they reached 
home before they lynched the offender — the daring 
and damnable Yankee ! The latter was made to ride 
with his face toward the tail of the horse, which T 
have no doubt impressed him simply as a novel idea ; 
and when they reached Georgetown, the whole party 
were lodged in jail. A telegram had been sent our 
father, and he reached home the same afternoon the 
fugitives were brought back. He and our mother 
visited the jail and decided, as they had thought 
before, that the negroes had run off with the boy in- 
stead of his running off with them. According to 
the story told by one of the negroes and admitted 
by the boy, he wanted to take the carriage, so as to 



THE SPENCER INCIDENT 237 

take all the children. But the negroes knew better ; 
they were afraid of discovery. He seemed to think 
they had as much right to a pleasure trip, or to their 
freedom, as anybody. 

Our father and mother contributed to the boy's 
comfort by sending him bed clothes and food of 
better quality than that furnished the prisoners. 
They condoned his crime, very much to the disgust 
of the people who had undertaken to punish him. 
One of our mother's brothers said : ''If your father's 
house were on fire the people ought to let it burn, 
if he defends this boy." But with our father's ideas 
of the boy's ignorance of the relation between mas- 
ter and slave, the boy's age and love of adventure, 
and our negroes' strong desire for freedom, together 
with his abhorrence of human bondage, he did de- 
fend him. The press throughout the country, of 
course, gave prominence to the occurrence ; and the 
boy's relatives saw a clipping in one of the city pa- 
pers telling of the affair. This last escapade was con- 
cealed from his poor stricken mother, who was al- 
ready wild with solicitude for her child. Her cousin, 
Samuel L. Clement of Philadelphia, was sent to in- 
tercede for the boy ; and knowing from the papers 
our father's kindness toward him, he came at once 
to us. Our father's heart was all that he could wish 
in sympathy for the young man's mother, and he 
joined the gentleman in a petition to the Gov- 
ernor to ask his intercession in behalf of the mis- 
guided youth. Certificates were produced to show 
that the lad was undeveloped and immature in in- 
tellect, and deficient in moral principles and discern- 
ment. When these were shown the Governor he at 
once granted the pardon, which was signed the same 
day (December 17). Even then it was necessary to 
use caution, and get the boy out of the way before 
news of his release was spread abroad. By collu- 



238 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

sion with the jailer, John Griffin, this was done ; and 
the boy was stolen out of jail before day, and sent 
to our house to await the stage, by which he was 
conveyed to Jefferson City on his way home. 

The verdict which the biographer must pass upon 
General Smith's action in this matter is the same as 
that contained in a letter from the lad's uncle in 
New York. "The relatives of young Henry Spencer 
here," the latter wrote, "all feel that without your 
aid the lad could not have been thus released and 
restored to his friends. They desire me to return 
you their most grateful thanks for your kindness in 
the matter, a kindness which can hardly be overesti- 
mated when they remember that the boy had deeply 
injured you, and that to render any aid to him made 
it necessary for you not only to forget the injury, 
but to encounter a very strong popular prejudice 
which prevailed among your neighbors and ac- 
quaintances, and which well might have kept a less 
magnanimous person than yourself silent and inac- 
tive." It is doubtful, indeed, whether the boy's rela- 
tives entirely realized the extent of the blow which 
had been inflicted upon the Smith household. The 
slaves concerned had all been reared from infancy 
in the family. Two of them had to be sold to ap- 
pease the outraged feeling of the community; but 
the elder of the women the General refused to sell, 
because she had children, and he would not part 
mother and child. "I well remember the shadow 
that fell upon our household," writes Mrs. Cotton, 
"when those two negroes were taken from our 



THE SPENCER INCIDENT 239 

midst. My father sat by the fireside like one who 
had buried dear friends ; and as I write of it even 
now, the spell comes over me." Of the same event 
Mrs. Smith wrote more than forty years afterwards : 
'Tt makes my heart sick now to think of Henry. We 
never heard of him after he was sold. I hope to 
meet him in Heaven and be forgiven the injustice 
of keeping him in slavery. He must have passed 
into eternity before the war, or he would have come 
to let us hear from him." 



CHAPTER X 

STATE AND NATIONAL POLITICS 
.(1856-1858) 

The political situation — Republican and "American" par- 
ties — General Smith becomes a member of the latter — 
Plans for the State elections of 1856 — Smith suggested 
for Governor — Ewing nominated by the convention — Dis- 
satisfaction with the ticket ; its defeat — Smith seeks the 
American nomination for Congress in 1856; is twice de- 
feated — Influence of his slavery views in this result — 
Major Rollins' candidacy for the governorship in 1857 — 
Smith's part in the campaign — Apathy of the American 
party and zeal of the Benton men — Defeat of Rollins — 
Frank Blair on Congress and the Lecompton constitution 
— Plans for 1858 — Smith advised to seek the nomination 
for Congress — Announces himself an independent can- 
didate — His canvass and defeat. 

Through the years 1856-58 the bitter struggle in 
Kansas continued, w^ith the advantage, in spite of 
Federal interference, slow^ly shifting to the free- 
State side. In the nation the sectional antipathies 
of North and South settled into an antagonism that 
was hurrying the country into civil war. In Mis- 
souri, efforts were made to consolidate into one 
party all the elements of opposition to the dominant 
wing of the Democratic party; and agencies were 

240 



POLITICAL SITUATION 241 

thus prepared by which, when the struggle came, 
the secessionists were circumvented, and the State 
kept true to the Federal Union. 

Into the attempts to overthrow the Democracy, 
General Smith threw himself heart and soul. He 
was a good hater, — of principles, if not of men ; 
and the principles for which the anti-Benton Demo- 
cracy stood, he cordially detested. They advocated 
an ultra pro-slavery policy ; his tendencies were anti- 
slavery. They had opposed an extensive scheme of 
internal improvements ; he had been urgent in its 
behalf. They were unsound on the money question 
and hostile to the State Bank; he had joined with 
Benton in opposition to financial heresies. Political 
offices were at this time looked upon as the legiti- 
mate spoils of political victory ; but in the use of 
power the dominant party had been so unprincipled, 
and had placed in office men so corrupt and unfit, 
that no words were strong enough to voice the in- 
dignation which he felt. 

The Democratic overthrow, it was evident by 
1856, could never be effected by the old Whig party. 
Irremediably split on the slavery question by the 
compromise legislation of 1850, the doom of that 
party was sealed by the Kansas -Nebraska act. 
"Four years ago," said Seward in 1855, i^ his 
famous Albany speech, "it w^as a strong, vigorous 
party, honorable for energy, noble achievements, 
and still more for noble enterprises. . . Now 
there is neither Whig party or Whig, south of the 
Potomac." The only question its former members 



242 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

might decide was the party to which they would give 
their allegiance as its successor. In the South many 
united with their former antagonists and became 
Democrats. For those who did not, the choice was 
open between two new parties, each untrammeled 
by old names and old traditions. In these all men 
might stand on the same footing. One was the Re- 
publican party, whose basic principle was opposi- 
tion to the extension of slavery ; starting in the 
Northwest in 1854, its first national convention was 
held at Pittsburg in February, 1856. The other was 
the Native American, or "Know Nothing" party, 
whose characteristic principles were the exclusion of 
foreigners from office, the extension of the term of 
residence required for naturalization, and the main- 
tenance of the Federal Union. 

The latter party was a natural outcome of the 
large increase of foreign immigration in the middle 
of the century, of the growth in political and re- 
ligious importance of the new-comers, and of the 
disunionist tendencies excited by the slavery con- 
troversy. The movement in opposition to foreigners 
began some years before ; but it was only the organi- 
zation of the Native American sentiment into a great 
secret society, with oaths, grips, and passwords, that 
made the movement politically formidable. In 1854 
the order startled the poHtical world by the strength 
which it showed in the elections of Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, New York, and Massachusetts. On the slav- 
ery question its position was undetermined ; and in 
the South it was joined in large numbers by former 



THE "AMERICAN" PARTY 243 

Whigs, and by Democrats who refused to follow 
their party in its ultra pro-slavery policy. It thus 
became the chief hope of the conservative, patriotic 
men of the South, who had not yet despaired of the 
attempt by compromising the extreme claims of 
North and South to save the Union. 

It was only natural that General Smith should be 
numbered among these. His opposition to slavery 
aggression, and his adherence to the doctrine 
"America for Americans," have already been made 
plain. Just when he definitely became a member of 
the order is difficult to say. In the debates in the 
legislature of 1854-55 on printing the Governor's 
message in German, he had said, ambiguously, "of 
the Know-Nothings spoken of he knew nothing and 
cared less." In his correspondence of 1856, he was 
constantly addressed as a member of the order. Un- 
der date of April 25, "the delegate from Independ- 
ence (Mo.) Council to the American congressional 
convention at Georgetown" is introduced to General 
Smith ; and in the margin of the letter, in the latter's 
handwriting, is a memorandum of the number of 
the Council, and the number of its membership — 
information which would not be revealed to an out- 
sider. His membership in the order it would seem, 
must date from some time in 1855-56. 

The views which prevailed among the leaders of 
the opposition to the Democracy, may be seen in 
the following letter from Major James S. Rollins. 
It was written from the latter's home, at Columbia, 
and bears date January 30, 1856 : 



244 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Ours is a routed army ; the soldiers scattered like 
the stars in the firmament ; everything- lost — sen- 
atorship, speakership, Bank directors, public print- 
ers, all gone ! Without a leader, all is dismay and 
confusion ! Next summer we have a new Governor 
to elect, all the judges, and one member of Con- 
gress. Can we regain any part of that which is lost ? 
If not, we may at least preserve a nucleus around 
which to rally once more in i860. 

These matters were much canvassed whilst I was 
in Jefferson City. If the opposition could only be 
united, we have now the State ! But can this be 
done? For one, I greatly doubt it. Frank [Francis 
P. Blair, Jr.] is for starting a Benton man for Gov- 
ernor; but I have learned enough to know that we 
can not unite the Americans on such an one. That 
arrangement would be acceptable to me, but I do 
not believe it would win. On the other hand, it may 
be quite hard to get the Irish and German vote for 
a Know-Nothing. My impression is that if an 
American is started, he ought to withdraw from the 
order. 

Now, who should he be? To me it is a matter of 
indifference, so he is a true man. If Frank can't get 
a Benton man, he prefers you or me, and as you are 
the oldest soldier I defer to you. It is a place I do 
not covet. The severe labor of such a canvass, the 
surroundings at Jefferson if elected, the strong 
probability of defeat, are all terrors to me. With 
stronger nerves than most men, these things would 
rather urge you to the contest. If you, or Broad- 
head, or some other good American of the right 
stamp, could not be commanded, and the public 
sentiment pointed to me in so marked a manner as 
to convince me I ought to take the race, why I might 
be induced to go it. And rest assured that, once on 
the track, I would strike for the stakes. And rest 



POLITICAL PLANS 245 

assured further that, once at Jefferson City, a course 
of poUcy would be pursued that would unite all the 
elements of opposition, and that would build up a 
powerful and victorious party in the State for the 
future. Oh that our side, — and when I speak of our 
side I mean the American and Benton side, — had a 
little discretion ! Next week the Railroad bill will 
be up ; I want to be in Jefferson at that time. If at 
all convenient, come down there and let us talk ail 
these matters over. 

The letter is important as showing the high posi- 
tion held by General Smith in the councils of the 
opposition ; it is also interesting as an expression of 
the sentiments of those who, with Smith himself, 
would sacrifice slavery, when the time came, to the 
preservation of Union and the overthrow of Demo- 
cratic rule. The next letter represents the view of 
those whose opposition to the Democracy, as time 
proved, was less powerful than their attachment to 
the "domestic institutions" of the South. It is from 
S. H. Woodson, and bears date February 23, 1856: 

What are you doing in Pettis for the great Amer- 
ican cause, — that which is alone worthy, in this 
hour of national peril, the attention of all patriotic 
politicians? The spirit of '76 is reanimating the 
chaos of politics in this section, and a new creation 
in its primitive purity is evolved and stands forth 
worthy of the light of our republican institutions. 
If the American party succeeds, the Union is safe, 
and our domestic institutions will remain un- 
touched ; but if it fails, the horrors of intestine 
war, and all the appalling consequences of disunion, 
must ensue. I do not know whether you have joined 



246 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the party, but I know that I write to a patriot whose 
heart is in the right place. 

In a letter from Elder Allen Wright (from Lex- 
ington, Mo., February 28) we get another point of 
view, — that, namely, of an able, pure-minded minis- 
ter of the Christian denomination, who loved the 
Union, but followed his community in supporting 
slavery. After an exhortation to "give all diligence 
to make your calling and election sure," he writes 
of politics thus : 

Watchman, what of our country? Is this great 
republic to fall, that is the light of the world and 
the dread and abhorrence of despotism? Shall the 
stars and stripes of Liberty trail in the dust, and 
the last hope of the political redemption of the 
world perish? Shall the Union of these States be 
dissolved, and shivered into shreds and factions ; 
and anarchy, confusion, and despotism triumph? 
These are questions that obtrude themselves upon 
my mind. I am no politician, — never have been and 
never expect to be ; but I love my country, the 
happiest and most glorious upon the footstool of 
the Almighty Father. Where and what is the rem- 
edy? Is there purity and patriotism enough among 
us to avert the dangers that menace us? Where is 
the pilot equal to the task of guiding the ship of 
state, freighted with the hopes of millions of our 
race, safe to port upon the present stormy and mucn 
agitated sea? 

In the meantime, the telegraph announces that 
Millard Fillmore is the nominee of the American 
party for the Presidency. What think ye of this? 
In my soul, I find a hearty response and say, 



POLITICAL PLANS 247 

Amen ! The next question is, can we elect him 
over black Republicanism, and all the little dirty 
"isms" combined ? Perhaps you are ready to ex- 
claim, ''Know Nothing! Know Nothing!'' Stop 
sir ! not so fast. I am a life member, so far as I 
understand their aims and objects. I am not one 
of them, but am one n'lth them ; and if alive and 
well, expect on the day of the fight to record my 
vote in favor of the sentiment, "None but Ameri- 
cans shall rule America." What say you to this? 
Are you one of the American party, or are you a 
Whig still, poor fellow ! Or are you meditating 
upon the propriety of joining the hard or soft wing 
of Demagogy — pshaw ! I nearly spoiled it, — De- 
mocracy ? There ! that is it. 

The plans formerly broached by Major Rollins 
for a joint ticket of the opposition are returned to 
by him March 5th, 1856, in a letter which shows 
the scheme gradually taking on definiteness : 

The ball opens handsomely for the American 
party. Fillmore and Donelson will be a powerful 
ticket with the people, and especially at the South. 
What will the Republicans do ? 

Now, General, we should see to it that in the 
State convention of the American party none but 
the right men are put on the ticket. It ought to be 
divided between Whigs and Democrats ; and in 
selecting Whigs, at least for the higher posts, we 
should get real genuine old-liners. Can't you think 
of, and write out and propose, such a ticket, all 
properly located, and send it to the Intelligencer? 
The truth is, the Democratic material is rather 
scanty to choose from ; but it is good, what there is 
of it. Fagg, Rains, Henry, must go upon it. If a 



248 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Whig is taken for Governor, we must have a true 
man, — one who will look to all the arrangements 
proper to be made next winter at Jefferson City. 
Now, you or I would do first rate ; but the question 
is, would we be acceptable to the convention, or 
those who will control it ? I hope you will see to it, 
— you and Blakey and Crooks, — that first-rate men 
are sent from all your region of country ; and that 
you will be on hand yourself like a thousand of 
brick. I will endeavor to be there myself. 

I have hoped all the time that you would take the 
race for Congress in your district. Why not an- 
nounce yourself at once as a candidate ? Would this 
be improper ? I think not ; we know Miller can not 
again make the race, and certainly I know of no one 
else having better claims than yourself upon the 
district, or upon the Whig-American and Benton 
parties. I repeat, therefore, if you feel like running 
just announce yourself subject to the approval of 
the American district convention. I do believe it 
would be a good move. You can beat Reid^ to death. 
If you will do this, and they should lick you for 
Congress, and should elect me Governor, I will 
have patronage enough in my hands to take good 
care of you. 

One more important suggestion. We must have 
a first-rate internal improvement man for Gover- 
nor. You see the trials thro' which our system has 
been forced to pass by having a jackass in the 
gubernatorial chair. 

1 am glad that Frank and Gratz^ will be satisfied 

^Candidate for the Democratic nomination; in the Eighteenth 
General Assembly he had voted against the Railroad bill. 

2 F. P. Blair and B. Gratz Brown, both Benton Democrats, 
were among the most active Union men in Missouri. The former 
was the vice-presidential candidate with Seymour in 1868, and the 
latter with Greeley in 1872. 



POLITICAL PLANS 249 

with Americans, if thereby they can accomplish the 
overthrow of the Nuhifiers. This again proves that 
we ought to have a true man for Governor. I re- 
peat, therefore, attend to your side of the river. 

The State convention was held at St. Louis late 
in April. Messrs. Smith and Rollins were both 
there, and were active in the party consultations. 
Political "machines" were far less developed at 
that time than now ; and such organization as then 
existed was less close and regular in the West than 
in the East. Nevertheless, secret councils and 
caucuses of the leaders were inevitable ; and such 
appear in the following letter from William H. Rus- 
sell, dated June 5, 1856: 

I have seen the miserable and contemptible effort 
of some anonymous, irresponsible scribbler, that 
charges Mr. Blair with making a dishonorable 
proposition to me as presiderrt of our late nomi- 
nating convention ; but I thought it utterly unwor- 
thy of notice. But now that such esteemed friends 
as yourself and Major Rollins seem to attach some 
importance to it, I will as- an act of justice to Mr. 
Blair so far notice it as to give to it the lie direct. 

Your recollection of the very pleasant conversa- 
tion in my room in which Messrs. Blair, Grover, 
Burden, you, and myself took part, is to the letter 
correct. Mr. Blair, in my judgment, is incapable of 
making a base proposition to anyone ; and if he was 
so disposed, he is entirely too good a judge of hu- 
man nature to have selected such men and such an 
occasion to submit it. 

I feel myself now called upon as an honorable 
man to give publicly the true version, which I will 



250 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

do throug-h our friend, Major Rollins, and substan- 
tially just as you have stated it. I do not believe 
that I ever spoke of the conversation except to a 
few bosom friends of Major Rollins ; and if at all, 
in no other Hght than as you regarded it. 

The allusion here is to some project for procur- 
ing the nomination of Rollins for Governor. But 
Major Rollins was not nominated by the conven- 
tion, and the ticket put forth was one which only 
partly met his approval and that of his political 
friends. Under date of May 21, 1856, he writes to 
General Smith : 

There are some good men on the State ticket, but 
it is not such an one as the American party ought to 
have presented. But we have got it and must press it 
thro', — which I believe we can do by a thorough ef- 
fort. You are greatly mistaken when you say old 
''Just So" is politically dead. He had more to do in 
fixing up the State ticket than any ten men in the 
convention. Ewing was his man ; for if elected, he 
knew he could serve him at Jefferson, and if de- 
feated, he knew he would not be in his way. From 
all I can learn, I think we have every prospect of 
carrying the State ; but unless I am greatly mis- 
taken, you will find at Jefferson City next winter 
precisely the same combinations of political ele- 
ments that we had to contend with last winter, and 
it will result most probably in some fishy unreliable 
American, and contemptible "rotten" [being elected] 
to the United States Senate. Even should "Old 
Bullion" come home and canvass the State for the 
benefit of the American party, the result would not 
be different. They would accept his services, and 
d — n him for having rendered them. In view of 



CONGRESSIONAL ASPIRATIONS 251 

this opinion, you will see the importance of send- 
ing up good men to the legislature ; and if you de- 
cline going to Washington, you will at least be 
prompt in having yourself returned again to Jef- 
ferson City. 

Elsewhere in this letter Major Rollins says: "The 
policy of the American party ought to be to defeat 
the 'rottens.' Therefore, in the Southwest, where 
we can not choose our own men, let them throw off 
on the Bentons. Such a favor will doubtless be re- 
ciprocated in cases where they can not elect." 

The suggestion that General Smith run for Con- 
gress had been made by his friends again and again. 
Ten years before (in 1846), and again in 1848, the 
attempt had been made to give him the Whig nomi- 
nation ; but in the first instance he had withdrawn 
his name, and in the second he failed of nomination. 
The suggestion, when renewed by Major Rollins, 
was repeated from all sides. Certainly there was no 
one, as stated by the latter in his letter of March 5, 
who had "better claims . . . upon the district, 
or upon the Whig- American and Benton parties" ; 
and although, as a man of downright character and 
outspoken habit, he had many enemies, he had also 
many warm friends, even among those politically 
opposed to him. 'T am not a member of the Know 
Nothing order," wrote one of these, "nor do I ever 
expect to be. Yet I am a friend to General G. R. 
Smith, and will support him. I have but little in- 
fluence, but all I have is yours, — from personal con- 
siderations alone." (A. G. Blakey, May 16, 1856.) 



252 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Nevertheless, there was deep distrust of him, due 
to his lukewarmness in the slavery cause, and his 
ardor for internal improvements ; and the district 
convention of the American party, although held 
in his own town, passed him by and gave to Col. 
i5. H. Woodson the nomination for the next con- 
gressional term. 

When news came soon after of the death of Mr. 
Miller, then Representative in Congress, an effort 
was made to induce Mr. Smith to become a candi- 
date for his unexpired term : 

Upon seeing the death of John G. Miller an- 
nounced [wrote Major Rollins in a portion of his 
letter of May 21, not before quoted] a number of 
your friends in St. Louis and at Jefferson City ex- 
pressed a strong desire that you should become a 
candidate to fill the vacancy. Why not? You and 
Woodson could then aid each other along, and 
bring about the best state of feeling. In view of 
the fact that the present Congress will most likely 
have to elect the President, the vacancy of Miller 
is a much more important post than to succeed him. 
I place my desire to see you run chiefly on this 
ground ; but I may add, the compliment of a seat in 
Congress is eminently your due, and at the hands 
of the American party. If this letter reaches you 
in time, therefore, and it is at all compatible with 
your feelings, just announce yourself at once for 
the vacancy. I'll promise to make several speeches 
for you in Cole, Moniteau, and Cooper, and along 
the river, where you will most need help. Certainly 
the railroad on the ridge and the river interest com- 
bined, ought to carry you thro'. 



PRO-SLAVERY OPPOSITION 253 

For this office also, General Smith's claims did 
not go uncontested, even within his own party. 
Against the veteran of fifty-two years, worn with 
services for his district and his party, was put up 
a stripling of twenty-four, — at that hour actually 
too young to be eligible to a seat in Congress, — 
whose chief recommendations were his ready tongue 
and the lack of any taint of heresy on the slavery 
question. Thomas P. Akers, of Lexington, Lafa- 
yette county, was the rival ; and in the support 
which he received in the river counties, may be 
traced a lingering hostility to General Smith for the 
defeat of the river route for the Pacific road. 

In a letter from Lexington, dated May 2'], 1856, 
William S. Field writes : 

The contest for Congress will rest between your- 
self and Mr. Akers, as Woodson desires that he 
shall have help in the field, and does not desire to 
run for both places. Many are trying to slay you 
on the negro question, which is unjust and wrong; 
and I have and do thus express myself at all times 
and under any circumstances. And you shall not be 
slain on that question if I can avoid it ; believing as 
I do that you are a sound, conservative pro-slavery 
man. Akers is powerful on the stump, and is popu- 
lar ; and to be candid — which is the office of a 
friend — I believe he can get the nomination from 
this county, not only over yourself, but over any 
man in the district ; and he has said if nominated he 
will run. 

General Smith set to work to secure this nomina- 
tion, writing to his friends, responding to calls to 



254 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

address local councils of the order, and using like 
means. From William H. Russell, president of the 
late State convention, his letter of May 28, stating 
his wishes, called forth the following reply, dated 
June 5, 1856: 

I am decidedly in favor of your being the candi- 
date for Congress to fill the vacancy created by the 
death of Mr. Miller, and I think the better plan is 
for your friends to announce you without the in- 
tervention of a convention, which would most likely 
be productive of bad feeling and discord rather 
than of harmony or strength. I shall myself act 
upon this principle, and so announce you in our 
county paper. 

In the contest for this nomination. General Smith 
was warned of the injury which his views on slavery 
were doing him. From Lexington he was in- 
formed by Field, on June 10, of the "howl of free- 
soilism" against him, which led the local council to 
instruct its delegate for Akers. Notwithstanding 
this, his correspondent continued, if Smith should 
receive the nomination he would *'get a heavy ma- 
jority" in Lexington, as he had many friends there, 
the council being divided 20 to 25 between him 
and Akers. R. C. Ewing, writing from the same 
place eight days later, more than confirms the view 
that the opposition to General Smith was chiefly 
due to his views on slavery. The feeling on that 
question about Lexington, he wrote, was "strong 
and all-absorbing." 



HIS DEFEAT 255 

I apprehend [he continues] it will be felt in the 
nomination next Monday. Your reported opinion in 
relation to Kansas is doing you a deal of damage In 
Saline, Lafayette, and Jackson. Those who control 
matters here say they are afraid of the effect of 
compromising anything on the slavery question ; and 
with this feeling" I apprehend the three counties 
mentioned will oppose your nomination. I learn that 
your position in reference to this question has been 
fully discussed, and that the leading influences of 
the three counties are against you. 

In the end Akers secured the nomination, and ul- 
timately his election, as also Woodson. Indignant 
at what he deemed base misrepresentation of him- 
self, General Smith charged Woodson with "med- 
dling" with the nomination for the vacancy, and 
declaring publicly that Smith was "as great an 
abolitionist as there was in Massachusetts or the 
North." These charges Colonel Woodson denied, 
in a letter dated July i, saying that he had "invari- 
ably spoken of [him] as a gentleman in whom [he] 
had the utmost confidence, and for whom [he] en- 
tertained the highest personal regard" ; adding that 
he was grieved that their friendly relations should 
be thus strained by mere rumor. But there can be 
no doubt, from Woodson's subsequent course in 
Congress, that he was secretly rejoiced that a man 
whose views on slavery were unsafe, from the 
Southern point of view, was not to precede him in 
his congressional seat. 

News of General Smith's defeat in the convention 
was conveyed to Russell in a letter of June 15, to 



256 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

which the latter repHed, two months later (August 
2.^, 1856), on his return from an extended trip 
through the East, in a letter commenting upon the 
Whig defeat at the August elections, and the pros- 
pects and qualities of the presidential candidates. 
The results of the late State election he considered 
a demonstration that ''our great and glorious party, 
originating for the patriotic purpose of rebuking 
office-seekers, has itself degenerated into one of ex- 
clusive personal benefit and extreme selfishness." 
Akers' triumph over Smith proved "that merit has 
to give way to supposed expediency, and long-tried 
service to the pert, impudent pretensions of a 
stranger." Ewing's defeat for Governor he regrets ; 
and in spite of a former prejudice against him, he 
now fully concurs with General Smith in his opin- 
ions of Ewing's merits. Concerning national poli- 
tics, he writes : 

I have now scarcely a hope of our ability to elect 
our good candidate Fillmore, and it pains me to the 
very core to think of taking in his stead such a 
poltroon as old Buck, and his right bower Douglas 
and Company. I came through Boone, and talked 
much with our friend Rollins and others ; and we 
have resolved not to be transferred to the car of a 
deceitful politician like old Buck. For my part, I 
consider Fremont, — objectionable as he is on ac- 
count of the company that he at present consorts 
with, — as less objectionable than Buchanan, and if 
compelled to choose between the two I shall take 
Fremont as the least of the evils. 

I go down to St. Louis on the first of October, 
as a grand juror of the Federal Court. Suppose you 



ROLLINS FOR GOVERNOR 257 

meet me there and consult together on some meas- 
ure of safety. . . I have nothing encouraging 
from the East for Fillmore. 

This passage is of interest as affording the first 
evidence of a disposition, among those with whom 
General Smith was acting, to go the length of voting 
for the Republican candidate, in order to defeat the 
distrusted and detested Democratic party. Whether 
General Smith at this time was willing to do this, 
is not apparent; but when once the struggle be- 
tween the forces of union and disunion should com- 
pel a decision, without a third alternative, between 
the Republican and the Democratic parties, there 
could be no doubt as to his choice. Even now his 
fundamental principle was "never to vote for any- 
one not ardently in love with this glorious Union." 
(Quoted by Eldridge Burden in a letter of August 
16, 1856.) 

The next political situation worthy of note is that 
created by the resignation of Governor Trusten 
Polk, upon his election, early in 1857, to the United 
States Senate. At once the "Union" party — using 
the term, applicable in a two-fold sense, to designate 
the forces opposed to the "soft" wing of the Demo- 
cracy — determined to revive Major Rollins' candi- 
dacy for the office, but this time without the doubt- 
ful intervention of a convention. 

News of this and of the part which General 
Smith was expected to play in the campaign, was 
conveyed, together with much information of a po- 
litical character, in a letter from B. Gratz Brown, 



258 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

from Jefferson City, March 3, 1857. Brown was 
then editor of the Missouri Democrat, and Repre- 
sentative from St. Louis in the legislature. That 
body, he informs General Smith, would adjourn on 
Wednesday for the summer recess. The Bank bill, 
his correspondent would be glad to learn, had be- 
come a law. The Railroad bill, giving the Pacific 
road a million dollars additional when it should 
have spent five hundred thousand west of Jefferson 
City, had passed both houses and would receive the 
signature of the acting Governor. 

In regard to politics [the letter continued] I be- 
lieve that I may say we are at last united in name 
as well as reality. Rollins is to be the candidate for 
Governor independent of party nominations. The 
Americans have recommended him as their first 
choice, and desired him to make the race on those 
terms. The Benton Democracy have formally pro- 
nounced him their first choice, and appointed a com- 
mittee of five to address him a letter calling upon 
him to announce himself as an independent candi- 
date. A few of the old-line Whigs — Wilson, Corn- 
wall, Carson — agree to do the same thing. Thus 
you see the sentiment seems to be united, and the 
whole opposition concentrated. Rollins will enter 
upon the canvass with vigor, and visit every county 
in the State. He will begin at once, so you may as 
well go to work in Pettis and get the combination 
perfected. We are all quite sanguine here that we 
can beat Stewart by a good majority, with proper 
exertion. Everything, however, depends upon tak- 
ing matters at the start and getting the ball in mo- 
tion before our friends shall get committed. The 
bogus Republican [of St. Louis] will be against 



GRATZ BROWN'S VIEWS 259 

us, and I am glad of it ; for it would be no victory 
to me if the honor were to be shared with that sheet. 
Mayo [of Osceola] will go with the Nullifiers, and 
it will be necessary at once to start a press down 
in that section of the State, as well as at Springfield. 
I had a long talk with Rollins a few days ago, and 
before anything was done. He is keen for the cam- 
paign, and pledges himself to do the work of the 
canvass in a masterly style. So do not let things go 
wrong in vour division. Remember, you are com- 
mander of the left wing of the allied army ! 

You will see from documents I have sent you all 
along pretty much what has been doing this session, 
and can judge of the demoralized state to which we 
have reduced the lately so victorious enemy. Within 
the last fortnight I have carried the House against 
the Anti leaders upon three of their most important 
party propositions, and defeated them by crushing 
votes. They were principally extravagant stealing 
operations, designed to bolster up their strikers and 
furnish funds for the summer campaign ; so that 
they are very much cast down. Reid and Henderson 
are much reduced in flesh, and I think it will not be 
long before a split occurs in the camp of the Nulli- 
fiers on the plunder questions, quite as serious as on 
the Palm question.^ 

I sent you a few days since a copy of my remarks 
upon the Emancipation resolutions, and would be 
glad to hear from you upon the developments there- 
in contained. It was a startling speech to the House 
in some respects, and took the opposition members 
by surprise. In St. Louis, I hear it has raised quite 
a furor, and my advices are that we shall carry the 
county in April by three thousand majority, and in 

^ Palm, "an avowed emancipationist," according to Brown, had 
secured the pro-slavery endorsement for a directorship in the Bank, 
which was afterwards repudiated. 



26o LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

August Rollins will have six thousand over Stewart. 
It was framed principally, as you will see from read- 
ing it, to suit my own meridian ; but I am sanguine 
enough to hope it will not be without good effect 
even in other counties of Missouri.^ 

Confirmation of Major Rollins' determination to 
be an independent candidate, together with an ur- 
gent request for Smith's aid, came in a letter from 
Rollins himself, dated from his home in Columbia, 
April 23, 1857: 

After much debate with myself and more with 
my wife I have this morning (improvidently, I ex- 
pect) flung out my banner to the breeze as a candi- 
date for Governor. The step is taken ; it is now too 
late to look back ; and in the language of Lord By- 
ron, I have only to say : 

"Whatever sky's above me 
Here's a heart for every fate." 

To tell you the truth, I am in a bad fix for a good 
race. Dr. Pope, whilst I was at St. Louis, ex- 
tracted a large wen from my leg, and at this time 
I am unable to ride. I am confined to my room, 
but I shall be out just as soon as the physical man 
will allow. In the meantime I shall put forth a neat 
and well-turned circular. 

The reports are of the most encouraging char- 
acter from every quarter; and I firmly believe if 
the Americans will stand firm and give me the vote 
which Ewing got, I shall be elected with ease. Tom 
Anderson has agreed to take the stump for me; 

^ See chapter xii for an account of this speech. 



ROLLINS' CANVASS 261 

Doniphan is all right ; ex-Governor King is right. 
I got a letter from John Wilson ; I still hope he will 
give me the field. Did you write to him ? 

Now, my dear General, whilst I intend and am 
every hour doing my best for our common cause, I 
must rely upon good friends to aid me along. Your 
extensive and popular acquaintance along the line 
of the Pacific road, and indeed in the whole South- 
west, will enable you to do a great deal for me. Just 
say to our friends along both branches of your road, 
that if I am Governor both must go thro', and that 
before the end of my term I'll take the cars for 
Kansas and the beautiful valley of the Neosho! 
Write to Boyd, Hendricks, and Richardson at 
Springfield. 

Again let me impress upon you the necessity of 
dropping a line now and then to the Intelligencer, 
Statesman, Express, Tribune (Liberty), Times 
(Glasgow), Enquirer (Jefferson), giving an ac- 
count of the prospects all over the Southwest. Just 
a few lines in the way of a letter will encourage and 
arouse our friends. 

I can not now say when I will be in Pettis. Rest 
assured I'll do the very best I can. The truth is I 
have the work of two men now, just answering 
letters, — and which must be answered or else offence 
may be given. 

To your family present our kind regards, and say 
to the young ladies that I hold them both to their 
promise to throw over this canvass, and in my favor, 
the charm of their graceful and unerring influence. 

Into the canvass thus begun in behalf of his po- 
litical and personal friend. General Smith threw 
himself with his customary energy. His promi- 
nence in the party was daily becoming greater. In 



262 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

May he was appointed a delegate to the National 
Council of the American party to be held at Louis- 
ville, June 2 ; but could not attend. From Cass 
county, Russell wrote him that they were up in 
arms for Rollins, and that Pettis must look out or 
Cass would wrest from her the honor as the banner 
county. But not all the news was of so encouraging 
a character. On June 29, Rollins wrote : 

There is considerable apathy on the part of our 
friends. Of my success I would not entertain a 
doubt if they were generally only as active as your- 
self ; and if this election is lost, it will be for the 
want of a fair effort with our party. I intend to do 
my whole duty, — and if my friends will not act, why 
then let the party be defeated and be — damned ! 

You have seen Benton's letter to Branch. It is 
all right. In the next Enquirer there will also be one 
from T. L. Price, a capital one, and into which he 
incorporates Benton's letter. Now it occurs to me 
if this letter of Price's were struck off by itself, 
and with Benton's letter extensively circulated in 
the Benton counties, it would be the very best thing 
to promote our objects. I will have the matter at- 
tended to on this side of the river. 

Branch will publish a similar one, as he writes to 
me to say. He is an efficient and working man, and 
writes to me the most encouraging news from the 
Northwest. I trust any commendable activity on 
the part of the Benton men will not have the effect 
to drive off any of our Whig and American friends. 

In the Southeast I met with much encouragement 
and only regretted that I could not spare more time 
to visit in that quarter some other counties. 

The apathy complained of was due in part to the 



ROLLINS' CANVASS 263 

specter Abolition, which Southern men at this time 
saw stalking in every movement and behind every 
m.an who did not avowedly put slavery above Union, 
and profess its protection and extension to be the 
chief end of government. His cordial agreement 
with the position which General Smith occupied on 
this question has already been pointed out; but 
greater tact and caution in his public utterances had 
prevented Rollins from incurring the odium which 
had fallen on his friend. For this reason the influ- 
ence of the slavery question in the contest was not 
so great as one might expect, as appears by a letter 
from Woodson to Smith, dated Independence, July 
26, 1857: 

Rollins is sweeping everything before him in this 
part of the State. I have no doubt that his speeches 
in this county have made a difference in his favor of 
at least two hundred votes. His position and past 
personal history upon the slavery issue, though 
highly conservative, are altogether acceptable to the 
most ultra pro-slavery men of our party ; and I be- 
lieve he will not lose five old-line Whigs in our 
county, even among the many who voted for Bu- 
chanan. The Benton men will support him without a 
single exception, and the combined opposition to the 
Antis are enthusiastic in his behalf. He has more 
than realized the expectations of his warmest ad- 
mirers, and has astonished and captivated all who 
had never before heard him. Bets are freely made 
here upon him without odds, and the Antis are 
greatly alarmed. The election of Rollins will be a 
virtual transfer of the State to the Americans ! 

This result, however, was not to be. An "excel- 



264 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

lent majority" was returned for Rollins in Pettis, 
but for the State as a whole his opponent, R. M. 
Stewart, defeated him by 334 votes. It was much 
honor, no doubt, to have cut the Democratic ma- 
jority down to so small a figure;^ but Rollins natu- 
rally felt sore when he thought how a little less 
apathy on the part of the Americans would have in- 
sured his election. In reply to General Smith's as- 
surances of sympathy, he wrote, September i, 1857: 

It is hard indeed that I should have been per- 
mitted to be defeated, after the severe labor and 
sacrifice which I made, and for the good of the 
cause. The opposition to the National Democracy 
know not what they have lost in not electing me, for 
with my election the State would have been ours 
for many years to come. As it is, I doubt whether 
the opposition can ever be cemented and made a 
compact, united, and solid party. Upon this subject, 
your views and my own are identical. It is worth 
the effort to bring about the union, — and I shall 
work strenuously for it. Switzler has taken the right 
direction, in the last number of the Statesman. 

I hope to meet you somewhere this fall, — if not 
at St. Louis, at Jefferson City during the sitting of 
the legislature, — when with others we can have a 
full talk, in the arrangement of a programme for 
the future. 

I can not say that I am not disappointed ; but I 
can say, with all truth, that I am neither disheart- 
ened nor dismayed, but I am more than ever ready 
to do all in my power to unite the fragments of the 
opposition and build up a great party in opposition 

^ When a candidate for Governor, in 1848, Rollins was defeated 
by King by i4,953- 



ROLLINS DEFEATED 265 

to the corrupt scoundrels who have possession of the 
government, State and National. . . . 

One result of the election was to show the futility 
of putting chief reliance on the American party. 
That organization had already run its brief course. 
Its history had shown that neutrality in the slavery 
contest was but the shadow of a dream. "Because 
thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot," was 
the verdict of the nation, North and South, "I will 
spue thee out of my mouth." Inevitably men of 
General Smith's views were forced into yet more 
pronounced hostility to the dominant Democracy, 
and the principles which it represented; and this 
process, in course of time, was to lead them into the 
Republican fold. 

At first, the tendency was merely towards a 
closer union with the Benton men. "My plan," 
wrote Russell to Smith, September 10, 1857, "is to 
enter heart and soul with our Benton allies, and ?.t 
once to satisfy them of our high appreciation of 
their recent services by selecting from among them 
our principal standard-bearers in the fight to come 
off next August." The position in national politics 
which the Benton men took, and the energy with 
which they proposed to act, are indicated in a letter 
from Frank Blair, written December 16, from 
Washington, where he was serving in Congress. 
The Lecompton constitution, it may be noted in ex- 
planation, was the disgraceful scheme of govern- 
ment which the pro-slavery party, backed by all the 
authority and cajolery of Buchanan's administra- 



266 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

tion, sought to force upon Kansas, allowing the set- 
tlers in that Territory to vote merely upon the ques- 
tion of taking it with or without slavery. 

We have got the National Demagogues split irre- 
trievable on the Lecompton constitution, and now we 
shall go on conquering and to conquer. You must 
begin at once to look after Missouri at the next 
August election. We want candidates in every 
county in the State for every office to be filled at 
that election. We must have a committee at Jeffer- 
son to correspond w^ith the men in every county, 
and arrange for candidates upon principles of com- 
promise and conciliation among the opposition, and 
death to the Demagogues. 

Acting upon this exhortation, General Smith 
wrote Major RoUins, January 6, 1858, to concert 
plans for the coming elections. In this letter he 
sounded his friend with regard to his (Smith's) 
once more seeking an election to Congress. Rollins' 
answer, dated January 13, was non-committal; he 
had so recently experienced the difficulty of com- 
bining the diverse elements of the opposition, that 
he was loath to recommend the experiment to his 
friend. 

Unfamiliar as I am with the public feeling in 
your district, — and to some extent, also, with the 
relative party strength of the Bentons and Ameri- 
cans, I am not prepared to say who ought to be the 
candidate, but this I have to remark : I don't know 
where they would find a better Benton man than 
yourself ; and as to your Americanism I believe I 
can say as it was said of Mary at the tomb of our 



NEW PLANS 267 

Savior, that you were the first to arrive and the last 
to leave. And as to your hatred to the National 
Pirates — alias Demagogues — alias Black Demo- 
crats, — I can certify that it is both terrible and un- 
relenting. I have received several letters from your 
district in regard to the candidacy ; your name has 
been mentioned in all them. I have responded to all 
as I now say to you : Go on, and in a fair and liberal 
spirit select, in view of the state of parties, the 
strongest man ; take him who will be most accept- 
able to those from whom we expect our support ; 
let there be no jarring or discordant feeling; work 
to the single point, and that is, the overthrow of the 

Demagogues ; and all will be ? When the choice 

is made, upon whomsoever it may fall, — whether 
upon you or a less deserving man, — I will be in the 
thickest and hottest of the fight, rallying our forces 
by pen and tongue to the rescue. 

The day after he had written to Rollins, General 
Smith wrote to Russell, now removed from Cass 
county to Independence, with the same end. In his 
reply, dated the 24th, Russell refers to his letter of 
September 10, before quoted, as foreshadowing 
every sentiment contained in Smith's present com- 
munication. He agreed in the view that it was de- 
sirable to make a change in their standard-bearers, 
but he wished to effect it so as not to give offence. 

If, strictly inter nos [he continues] , it is our policy 
not to run Colonel Woodson again, we should so 
manage it as not to mortify or wound his feelings; 
for he is both entitled to sincere respect, and has 
the power of being severely felt if it is unjustly 
withheld from him. Could not our friend Blair at 
Washington be made the medium of inducing him 



268 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

to withdraw his pretentions to another race, with- 
out offending his pride or self-respect? If so it 
would be a great point gained. 

General Smith proceeded to act upon the sug- 
gestion with reference to Blair, but without the de- 
sired result. The situation in Congress, and the 
reason why it was impossible to do anything with 
Woodson, are indicated in Blair's letter of Febru- 
ary 6, 1858: 

I received your kind letter many days since, and 
thank you for it. We have got our feet on the necks 
of the National Demagogues. The House has been 
sitting since twelve o'clock of the 5th ; it is now one 
o'clock of the 6th, and the probability is that we 
shall remain in session two or three days without 
intermission. We are trying to force them into a 
vote on the essence of the Lecompton swindle and 
the President's message to a select committee. They 
are interposing motions to adjourn, calls of the 
House, etc., etc. ; but we beat them on every motion, 
and intend to hold their noses to the grindstone 
until we grind them off. The d — ^ned rascals feel 
lost; they know that when we do reach a vote, we 
shall beat them. 

I think you ought to have the race for Congress. 
Neither Price nor Lusk are fit to be elected, and 
can't be. I think the best plan for you is to get the 
nomination from the Know Nothings and start out 
on the track. I don't know that anything can be 
done with Price or Lusk by me, but I will write to 
Gardenhire and others to try and beat some sense 
into their heads. Woodson and Anderson vote 
steadily with the Demagogues. I have tried my best 
to prevent their making d — fools of themselves, 
but I can do nothing with them. They may go to 



BLAIR'S VIEWS 269 

the devil their own road, because we have the dead- 
wood on them in this House of Representatives, and 
I think the Administration will not be able to carry 
another measure this Congress. You must send lists 
of people all over your district, and I will send 
them the documents. 

Best regards to all friends in Missouri. You 
must try your d — nedest to harmonize matters in 
the State, and especially your district. We must 
carry Missouri next August. 

In a letter written February 20, Major Rollins 
reads the signs of the times in national and State 
politics with much shrewdness. 

I think we shall see some strange shifting of the 
political scenes in a short time ; and whilst we should 
fight steadily and with courage in Missouri, what- 
ever may be the result of the race here, I think we'll 
floor the scoundrels in the next national contest. 
The signs of the times look that way. If the Le- 
compton constitution be rejected, as I most sin- 
cerely hope it will be, the Nullifiers may take some 
decisive step toward a dissolution of the Union; 
and we shall then, for the first time in Missouri, 
have the rascals where I have been desiring to get 
them. They must either join us, or they must go 
for disunion with the Nullifiers ; and taking either 
shoot, I think we can crush them. 

On the 6th of March, Blair wrote, replying to a 
letter from General Smith, in terms which must 
have cheered his heart : 

The better opinion here is that we shall beat Le- 
compton in the House notwithstanding the defec- 



270 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

tion of Messrs. Anderson and Woodson. They have 
lost all character here, and are not even respected 
by the Democrats, who use them. It is often said 
that the Americans in the Southern States might 
as well send Democrats at once to Congress, as to 
send men who always vote with the Administration. 
It is certainly a very useless trouble for the opposi- 
tion to elect men to vote with the Administration; 
and therefore it is to be hoped that if you run any 
opposition ticket at all, it will be composed of men 
who really belong to the opposition, and not of men 
who are essentially and in every respect as good 
Administration men as any in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

I hope you will have no trouble in getting the 
nomination in your district. Having served with 
you in the legislature, I know that you will be found 
against these scamps ; but I presume you won't need 
my endorsement to help you in your district. Write 
me often and keep me advised of everything that 
happens. All eyes are turned upon Missouri, and 
if we can defeat the Nullifiers next August, we 
shall be circled with a halo of glory. I rely upon 
you and Jim Rollins for the 26. and 5th districts ; 
and I want you to write to your friends in the 4th 
district to support Branch and to force old King 
off the track. He is not fit to be elected ; you know 
that he would sell out the district after his election 
to Old Buck. 

With such encouragement from his political 
friends, General Smith pursued his canvass for the 
congressional nomination. Every legitimate influ- 
ence was used by him. Among others, he wrote his 
nephew John A. Martin, then a young lawyer of 
Cass county, with a request that he write to the 



CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS 271 

papers of that section in his interest. From Martin's 
reply (March 16), it seems that he lent a half- 
hearted compliance with the request, but forebore 
openly to espouse the cause, lest it should com- 
promise himself with the Democratic party. ''Uncle, 
I do not know but what my friendship for you," he 
writes, ''is leading me somewhat beyond the latitude 
of an honest Democrat ; for I must say that I am a 
Democrat to the backbone, without the slightest 
taint of Republicanism, Know Nothingism, Benton- 
ism, or any other ism but conservativism. At the 
same time, I must admit that I would be greatly re- 
joiced to see you elected to Congress from this dis- 
trict." This was the attitude taken by many of the 
General's friends in the district. From personal 
considerations they would like to see him elected, 
but they would not turn their hands over to effect 
this end. General Smith's most cordial support 
came from political leaders in distant parts of the 
State; in his own immediate community, narrow- 
minded jealousy, distrust of his blunt and impetuous 
nature, and blind and selfish conservatism fought 
against him. 

The outcome was that, in spite of the opposition 
of his wife and daughters, he resolved to come out 
as an independent candidate, without regard to 
party nominations. Taking advantage of the ab- 
sence of his family at McAllister Springs, he issued 
the following card through the local papers : 



272 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Georgetown, Mo., July 12, 1858. 
To the voters of the Fifth Congressional District: 

Fellow Citizens, — In reply to solicitations from 
numerous friends in every part of the district, I now 
announce myself an independent candidate to repre- 
sent the 5th Congressional District in the next As- 
sembly. Thus long have I waited with a hope that a 
better state of feeling would exist among the op- 
ponents of the present dominant party ; and that 
the causes which have operated to prejudice the po- 
sition of the present incumbent might be removed. 
Instead however of this, I find that ill state of feel- 
ing deepening and widening. And in Colonel Wood- 
son's card announcing himself a candidate, there is 
presented unmistakable cause for dissatisfaction, 
strong and uncompromising. In his canvass of 
1856, he distinctly and unqualifiedly denounced the 
so-called ''National Democratic party," as sectional 
in its organization and principles ; — to use his own 
language, "Democracy stunk in the nostrils of the 
nation," and that the American party alone was na- 
tional in principle and organization, and conservative 
and patriotic in feeling and purpose. But in his 
circular, without any new circumstances or addi- 
tional reason for so strange and sudden a revolution 
in his views, he boldly tells the same people that this 
same Democratic party is national in its organiza- 
tion and disposed to do equal and exact justice to 
all. Join this strange but significant declaration 
with the no less strange conduct of the two sham 
Democratic conventions recently held at George- 
town, and the strong endorsements and extravagant 
laudations given by the Anti-Benton press of the 
district and State, and we are irresistibly driven to 
the conclusion that either Colonel Woodson, or that 
party who in '56 "stunk in the nostrils of the na- 
tion," have changed positions. Two brief years only 



HIS CARD 273 

have passed since the Democratic papers of the 
whole State, as well as their politicians upon the 
hustings, apparently vied with each other in their 
proficiency in the use of billingsgate and bitter de- 
nunciations of Colonel Woodson, as the exponent of 
the American Conservative party. Recently they 
have discovered that he is ''one among ten thousand 
and altogether lovely," and far preferable to any 
man of their own party. Although they did not 
formally nominate him as their candidate at either 
of the two conventions, yet enough is known to sat- 
isfy every honest mind that it was the controlling 
sentiment of that Convention ; — so much so, that of 
late the Colonel never speaks or writes of his politi- 
cal glory without grateful reference to the endorse- 
ment of the "Democratic convention of George- 
town." This fact is no less startling than the reason 
thereof is apparent. 

Fellow citizens, I honestly conceive that Colonel 
Woodson's whole object and design is to force upon 
this people false and unnecessary issues. He comes 
home, still warm from the fierce and heated contest 
between the fanatic of the North and the demagogue 
of the South, — a struggle in which there is no prin- 
ciple involved so controlling and powerful as self- 
promotion and aggrandizement, — and he attempts 
to disturb the peace and good of this people by ex- 
citing dreadful apprehensions of danger that really 
has no existence. He is before the people an agi- 
tator ; — canvassing a question that only tends to 
arouse feelings of hostility among our fellow broth- 
ers of the South, — creating discord, where other- 
wise there would be union of feeling, union of ac- 
tion, and union of purpose. For I am persuaded that 
the security of the domestic institution of slavery 
greatly depends upon the non-agitation of that sub- 
ject. Experience dictates such a policy; and he who 



274 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

loves most this institution discusses it least. I now, 
as I always have, deprecate the agitation of this 
question. No good can come of it. And for the un- 
happy position of this matter before the nation, the 
present Democratic party is alone responsible. In 
their platform, adopted immediately preceding the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, agitation was 
disclaimed and denounced. The repeal of that meas- 
ure was to effect the same end. In their Cincinnati 
platform, allegiance to non-agitation was as sacredly 
pledged, and the election of Mr. Buchanan was to 
bring about the same "consummation so devoutly 
wished for." Yet the nation is convulsed with the 
slavery agitation, and there is no peace to this peo- 
ple. And Colonel Woodson, as if thoroughly in- 
oculated into the instincts and practices of this Dem- 
agoguing party, makes this canvass upon what Colo- 
nel Benton truthfully characterized as the "senseless 
wolf-howl." With Colonel Woodson's vote upon 
the Lecompton bill, I have no controversy. I was 
always opposed to making this pet of the Adminis- 
tration a test in the American party ; and. I am as 
strenuously opposed to having this issue forced upon 
me. And herein is the grievance occasioned by Colo- 
nel Woodson. He denounces as co-operators of the 
Black Republican party all who did not vote with 
the Administration upon this bill. And he makes 
this race upon the record made by him the present 
session. That now is a dead issue, and any attempt 
to revive it can look to, nor have for its object, no 
other end than self-promotion at the sacrifice of the 
best interests of the common good. 

As I live, fellow citizens, I will dissemble noth- 
ing; I have not, nor do I now entertain any politi- 
cal opinion which I fear to avow. I discounten- 
ance fanaticism and sectionalism wherever found, 
whether at the North or at the South. Neither the 



HIS CARD 275 

Black Republican of the North nor the Sectional 
Democrat of the South find any sympathy with me. 
Nor have I any sympathy whatever with any Eman- 
cipation movement here. And I denounce all men 
and all papers who charge me with consorting and 
co-operating with the friends of Emancipationism 
in Missouri or elsewhere, as base calumniators and 
slanderers. I was born in a slave State, educated in 
pro-slavery sentiments, have always been a slave- 
holder, and to-day have five times more interest in 
slaves than all of the slandering Anti-Benton editors 
in the State of Missouri. 

Fellow citizens, if I should be elected as your 
Representative, it will be my highest ambition and 
proudest glory to pursue that policy that will best 
promote the interest of my constituents and this 
great country. I shall oppose with "a will of iron" 
the worse than European extravagance of this Ad- 
ministration. I shall do all that in me lies to revive 
the interests and just claims of our own Central 
route for a railroad to the Pacific, — a measure that 
was so dear to, and ably and eloquently advocated 
by that great spirit, Thomas H. Benton. I shall co- 
operate most cheerfully in any and every laudable 
attempt to crush out every feeling and suppress 
every discussion the tendency of which is to alienate 
one portion of this Union from another. With the 
promise to visit as many counties as I possibly can, 
and give my views upon any and all questions that 
may concern the voters of this district, 

I am, your most obedient servant, 

G. R. Smith. 

The issue was now squarely made. Three times 
before General Smith had tried to secure the party 
nomination, and each time this or that influence had 
snatched it from his grasp. Now he appealed to the 



276 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

people direct, and upon their decision was to hang 
his chance of playing a part on the larger fields of 
politics. 

What the result would have been had his card 
been issued earlier, is uncertain ; as it was, barely 
three weeks remained before the polling of votes. 
This interval he used with his customary energy in 
canvassing the district. The progress of the fight is 
indicated in two letters written by J. F. Philips, 
then a young lawyer of Georgetown, to General 
Smith while the latter was on his canvass. Both 
are undated, but they were evidently written late 
in July. ''A powerful reaction," writes Mr. Philips 
in the first, *'is going on here. Betting is strong. 
Your letters nearly all reached me too late for good. 
I am the only man that's fighting very strong for 
you here. You will get a good vote in Pettis." In 
the second, rather fuller details are given. 

I am just in receipt of your missive from Knob 
Noster, and hasten to drop you a line at Cole Camp. 
I am exceedingly gratified to learn of your good 
cheer and success, but mortified to hear of the de- 
linquency of your appointments and circulars. It is 
too late, I fear, now for them to reach the upper 
counties. The unusual haste of your canvass is 
greatly to be regretted. Had you come out one 
month sooner, or were the election off three weeks, 
your success would be sure. A great revolution is 
manifest here. I am persuaded that Woodson's 
strong vote will be in Pettis and Cooper. The at- 
tachment of some of his new-made political friends 
even here is weakening some. Captain Montgomery 
had hundreds of copies of your Lexington speech 



HIS DEFEAT 277 

struck off and scattered fast and far. It is doing 
you noble service. Its sentiments commend them- 
selves to every fair-minded and patriotic heart. 

, the vile hypocrite and slanderer, is doing his 

wonted dirty work in this fight. Assassin as he is, as 
soon as your back was turned he attempts to stab you 
by slyly reading a letter he got from Frank Blair, 
in which Frank says : "Tell Smith to hump him- 
self ; now is the time for us." He shows that letter 
and makes the impression that he recently received 
it, when in fact he received it more than a year ago, 
when Rollins and Stewart were running for Gov- 
ernor. I wish you was here to lash him. Forbes is 
taking no active part against you; he knows that 
danger lurks there. . . . Vest is up here, and 
seeks, I think, an opportunity of making a speech 
for Sam Woodson. If he makes one, I am in readi- 
ness to give him a reply that will cool his political 
ardor. 

As it turned out, General Smith was able to go 
over only half of the district. The fight was a tri- 
angular one, John W. Reid having been nominated 
by the Democrats against both Smith and Wood- 
son. The election took place early in August, and in 
a light vote Smith was defeated and Woodson 
elected. 

Thus again General Smith's political ambitions 
were brought to naught. And again, with a persist- 
ence worthy of the highest respect, the task was re- 
sumed of consolidating heterogeneous elements of 
opposition on a basis of compromise and concilia- 
tion. The preservation of the Union was to these 
men the chief immediate object of political action; 



278 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

and the middle course which they took was the only 
road, in their view, to that end. 

Already these words had been uttered : "A house 
divided against itself can not stand. I believe this 
g-overnment can not endure permanently half slave 
and half free." But in a slaveholding State such 
doctrine could have few followers. 



CHAPTER XI 

FOUNDING OF SEDALIA I EVE OF THE WAR 
(1856— 1861) 

Railroad affairs — Dissatisfaction with the management of 
the Pacific road — Attempt to elect General Smith its 
president — Georgetown life — The road threatens its pros- 
perity — Ineffectual efforts of General Smith — Plans the 
foundation of a new town — Location of a depot — The 
first months of the town — The name Sedalia — Comple- 
tion of the Pacific road to it — Death of Mrs. Smith — 
Tributes to her memory — Political views, 1858-60 — Sup- 
ports Bell and Everett — As to the liberation of his 
slaves. 

The years 1856-58, full as they were for General 
Smith of political labors and anxiety, were also 
years of active business life. His farm at George- 
town required constant attention and supervision; 
and to affairs of the Pacific road he gave much of 
his time. In these years also the plans were con- 
ceived and the foundations laid for the city of Se- 
dalia, the chief pride of his life and his most fitting 
monument. 

The management of the Missouri railroads in 
these earlier years seems not to have been satis- 
factory. Doubtless the expectations of the people 
were too roseate, and they did not sufficiently take 

279 



28o LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

into account the difficulties of financing and con- 
structing such enterprises, especially in the infancy 
of railway management. They expected miracles in 
rapid construction ; and in these they were encour- 
aged, ignorantly it may be, by the officers of the 
roads. When the miracles failed of performance the 
people murmured. They saw million after million 
voted in State credit, and call after call made upon 
private and county subscriptions, while the roads, 
in their view, made no commensurate progress. 
"The people," wrote one of General Smith's cor- 
respondents from Jackson county, ''have got it into 
their heads that the [Pacific] road will never be 
built west of Jefferson, and they are unwilling to 
have their money expended down there where they 
won't be benefited." 

It would have been impossible for the ablest and 
most painstaking set of officials to have avoided 
creating dissatisfaction in some quarter. Even with 
all due allowance, much legitimate cause for dissat- 
isfaction with the management of the roads re- 
mained. Twenty-four millions of bonds were voted 
to the roads as loans by the State in the course of 
eight years, and upon this sum the roads engaged 
to pay the interest. One only of the roads, the Han- 
nibal and St. Joseph, lived up to its agreement ; and 
for the entire sum upon which default was made, 
amounting in the aggregate to some twenty million 
dollars, the State became bound. This was a heavy 
load for the people to carry, especially when supple- 
mented by the burden of the war ; but the prosperity 



RAILROAD TROUBLES 281 

which ultimately enabled the State to manage both 
burdens, was chiefly due to the development which 
the railroads gave to it. 

The Pacific road shared in the reaction of dis- 
satisfaction caused by this mismanagement. Gen- 
eral Smith was for a number of years one of the Di- 
rectors of the road, but this did not prevent his shar- 
ing in the dissatisfaction. The feeling that prevailed 
west of Jefferson City, at this time, is indicated by 
a letter from Thomas L. Price, dated March 8, 

1858: 

What is the move with the Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany ? They tell me they are going to stop the road 
at Round Hill [now Tipton] to remain there for 
considerable time. I can't see the necessity for that ; 
is there not something else at work? My opinion 
is that McPherson and Miller [the President and 
Chief Engineer] are at work to accomplish an- 
other object, even if it is at the expense of the 
wishes of the people west. I make these suggestions 
for your reflection, without saying more. I may 
be mistaken, but I think not. Would it not be well 
for you and other friends to be at the election the 
29th inst., and in fact to be there several days be- 
fore? Unless prompt action is had, you will not see 
the road go any further west than Round Hill for 
some time. A word to the wise is sufficient. 

General Smith's friends had already urged him, 
the foremost champion of the road in Central Mis- 
souri, as a candidate for its presidency. Such 
oflices were largely political at this time; and his 
experience with business ventures, and his services 



282 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

to the road, constituted strong claims on the practi- 
cal side, while his downright honesty was such that 
there was no fear of trickery or ulterior purpose if 
he was elected. His candidacy received the cordial 
support of able and far-seeing men, like Rollins and 
Blair. "Some ten days ago," wrote the former in his 
letter of February 20, 1858, ''I received a letter from 
a number of gentlemen in your neighborhood, urg- 
ing your name warmly for the presidency of the 
Pacific road. I need not assure you how warmly this 
suggestion met my approbation ; and whatever I can 
do will be done to promote this object. And I only 
have to regret that I am not in a position to exert 
an influence that would place it beyond a doubt. I 
have already written to St. Louis upon this subject, 
and beg of you to make to me free suggestions as to 
what I ought or can do to promote your success." 
To the same effect was Blair's letter of March 6. 
"In regard to the Pacific railroad Directory," he 
wrote, "I will, as you request, write to Mr. Wyman, 
and I have no doubt that he will co-operate with you 
in that election." The Directors, thirteen in number, 
were elected annually on the last Monday in March 
in stockholders' meeting; and the Directors then 
chose from among their number one to act as Presi- 
dent. When the meeting of stockholders was held 
this year. General Smith was again chosen to the 
Directory; but the hopes which his friends enter- 
tained of securing his election to the higher post, 
were disappointed. 

As the building of the railroad progressed, it 



PROGRESS OF THE ROAD 283 

exerted its influence, immediate and prospective, on 
the social life of the community. Of this subject 
Mrs. M. E. Smith writes : 

The preliminaries for the building of the road 
necessitated the bringing of engineers from the 
Eastern cities ; and our father's interest and en- 
thusiasm brought him into pleasant relations with 
them, both in the legislature and in St. Louis, so- 
cially and otherwise. It became a delightful privi- 
lege, when they were sojourning in the region of 
Georgetown, to entertain them at our house. They 
were gentlemen of culture and refinement. They 
often brought their wives with them, and would 
visit us for two or three weeks at a time. They 
seemed to appreciate our hospitality, and we cer- 
tainly did their society. We revelled in dreams of 
the future — dreams which we have now realized — 
when we should see the same culture brought into 
our own land, and we could furnish our own engi- 
neers, our own teachers, and so on, — when ours 
should be a land of free schools ; a land wholly free 
from negro slavery ; a land progressing toward the 
millennium ; a land also of freedom for women. 

In another place she writes of their first trip on 
the advancing railroad : 

When the trains had first reached Washington 
(Mo.), our father was so anxious to enjoy to its 
fullest extent the benefits and pleasure that were to 
be derived from the railroad, that on one of his 
trips he invited our mother, my sister, and myself 
to go with him in a carriage over the Osage hills 
to Washington, so that we could ride from there 
on a train to St. Louis. The trip was fraught with 
many adventures, owing to the primitive settle- 



284 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

ments and bad roads at that time ; but the short 
journey on the cars amply repaid us for all our 
privations during the three days' carriage ride. The 
last night before reaching Washington we spent in 
a one-room cabin containing three beds, with a big 
open fire-place, and a feeble flicker of light from 
an iron lard-lamp stuck in the wall over the fire- 
place. There were the husband and wife, and the 
old mother-in-law who sat in one corner on a pallet, 
and five or six grown sons and daughters, — all to 
be accommodated in that one room. We had trav- 
eled six or eight miles after night to reach this 
house, refusing the hospitality of two or three 
places that we had passed where the hogs and cows 
were in pens at the front door, and the landlady 
was clad in homespun and wooden shoes, and the 
smell of onions was strong in the road, coming 
from the preparation of the evening meal. We were 
tired and hungry, but went on by the dim Hght of 
the moon, seeking this ''American" house, where 
we hoped to find cleanliness and appetizing food. 
And this was the result ! 

They asked us what we would have for supper, 
and we smothered our hunger and answered, "Noth- 
ing." We sat down about the fire, with the one hope 
of somehow or somewhere closing our eyes in the 
forgetfulness of sleep. It is needless to say that we 
did not make an elaborate toilet before going to 
bed. My sister begged the privilege of sleeping 
behind, promising to stay awake all night and watch 
over me in my dangerous location. I jokingly said: 
"Whichever gets in first shall get behind ;" but I 
courageously indulged her whim. Spreading our 
wraps and shawls over us and not removing any of 
our garments, we slept the sleep of the righteous ; 
and next morning;' we awoke with the sun blazing 
in on us through the cracks in the wall. Our father 



PROGRESS OF THE ROAD 285 

very modestly asked for boiled eggs and baked 
potatoes for breakfast, after which frugal meal we 
began our Sabbath-day's journey to the much de- 
sired goal. About eleven o'clock our eyes were 
greeted by the sight of a farmhouse, cool and sweet 
in its shady nook, its doors wide open, and rag car- 
pets telling their story of civilization and comfort. 
The father and mother of the household were at 
church, but a rosy-cheeked lass, who seemed beauti- 
ful to us by contrast with our hosts of the night be- 
fore, responded in the affirmative to our request for 
dinner; and the meal which she served, it has al- 
ways seemed to us, was fit for the gods. 

That night we reached Washington, and the next 
day the wonderful ride was ours. We were actually 
beginning to see and realize the fruition of our 
father's hopes of having the steam-cars in Missouri. 
This repaid us for all our trouble. 

These were halcyon days for the General's fam- 
ily, made doubly bright in the retrospect by con- 
trast with suffering and sorrow. "Georgetown at 
that time," writes Mrs. Smith, "was smiling in the 
blessed sunshine of God's love, and to us it was the 
dearest spot on earth." Their grandfather Thom- 
son was one of the original founders of the place, 
which had become a flourishing little town of some 
fifteen hundred inhabitants. They had a large farm 
and a comfortable brick house, which had replaced 
the cabin in which they had at first dwelt, and de- 
sirable people had begun to pour in from Kentucky, 
affording them social opportunities and making 
Georgetown a pleasant place of residence. 

Nevertheless, as work advanced on the road, and 



286 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the surveys approached finaHty, it was apparent to 
General Smith that, unless a strenuous effort was 
made, Georgetown was doomed. The line of the 
road passed three miles south of the town. To his 
clear vision it was evident that, unless the officers of 
the Company could be prevailed upon to bring the 
road to the town, the latter would surely decay, and 
a new and more thriving community spring up at 
the depot point. 

These convictions he voiced in no uncertain 
prophecies ; and with all his power he sought to 
move the people, in private and in public meetings, 
to make the sacrifices needed to bring the road to 
their doors. ''Open your eyes and see the friend 
that is coming to aid you ; hold out your hands and 
welcome it ; give of your means to quicken its move- 
ments toward you," he is represented by a historian 
of Sedalia as saying. At one of the last railroad 
meetings held in the court house at Georgetown, he 
said that, unless they took immediate steps to pre- 
vent it, they would live to see the day when "the 
bats and the owls would make their home in the 
court house, while a flourishing town would be 
growing at their suburbs."^ But the people were 
blind, or would not see. ''Contented and happy," 
writes Mrs. Smith, "they looked upon his ideas as 
Utopian. They laughed at him and went on with 
their improvements, even beginning to macadamize 
the streets — a thing which had never been done be- 
fore — and erect a stone drug-store ; and in various 

^History of Pettis County (1882), p. 402. 



GEORGETOWN D00:MED 287 

ways they manifested their confidence in the dear 
old town. Our father found it impossible to con- 
vince them of what was so palpable to him, and 
was compelled to put into execution alone the ideas 
that burned within him." 

Failing to bring the road to the town, his plan 
was to take the town to the road. On the line sur- 
veyed were certain lands, owned in part by Absa- 
lom McVey, and in part by his minor heirs by a de- 
ceased wife. Realizing that these must in any event 
increase in value, and that in case a town were lo- 
cated upon them they would increase a thousand- 
fold, General Smith sought to interest his friends in 
their purchase. There was no difficulty with the 
vendor ; the only trouble was to raise the funds. "The 
old system of credit," writes Mrs. Smith, ''pre- 
vailed in those times to such an extent that mer- 
chants' and grocers' bills and all expenses of the 
family were settled up only once a year, and some- 
times not so often. The consequence was, every- 
body was in debt. Our father was not an exception." 
He had not the means at hand, and his immediate 
neighbors either could not or would not go into the 
venture with him. The country was then in the ex- 
citement of overtrading which within a few months 
brought on the panic of 1857, ^^^ money was hard 
to get even at high rates of interest. After many 
attempts, General Smith succeeded in negotiating a 
loan from Mr. Fayette McMullen of $5,000, on 
the basis of six per cent, interest and one-half of the 
profits. With this money and what he himself pos- 



288 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

sessed, he purchased from McVey, on February i8, 
1856, 337 acres of land, at the rate of $13 an acre. 
On March 4th he added to this purchase 166 acres 
belonging to McVey's minor heirs, which the latter, 
as their guardian and curator, on proper authoriza- 
tion of the county court, and after due appraisal, 
sold to him at private sale. Out of this sale, in time, 
grew a troublesome lawsuit, which will be described 
later ; it is only necessary to point out here that the 
lands were appraised at only $1,248.75, and General 
Smith paid for them $2,140.46, or a fraction less 
per acre than the price paid for the lands included 
in the former sale. 

General Smith next proceeded energetically to se- 
cure the location of a depot on the tract. Many ob- 
stacles were met with before the matter was settled. 
As early as February 22, 1858, he thought he had 
secured his object ; but it was only on March 2, 1859, 
after a grant to the road for ninety-nine years of 
every fourth lot in twenty-six blocks, — being all that 
part of the original plat of the town lying north of 
its right of way, — that the Company definitely agreed 
to locate and permanently maintain a depot on the 
town site. The first plat of the town, under the 
name of ''Sedville," comprising a part of the above 
purchases, was acknowledged and filed for record 
by G. R. Smith on November 30, 1857; <^" October 
16, i860, a second plat, including another portion 
of the land, was filed and recorded. On March 15, 
1858, an undivided one-fourth interest in the whole 
tract of 505 acres was sold by General Smith to 



"SEDVILLE" FOUNDED 289 

Dr. W. L. Felix. This partnership continued until 
March 2 of the next year, the date upon which the 
deed to the Pacific road was executed. On that day 
Dr. Felix, not being in sympathy with the measures 
of his partner, and losing faith in the enterprise, 
sold his one-fourth interest to Mr. D. W. Bouldin. 
Dr. Felix afterwards bought land at Farmer City, 
thinking that the most favorable location for a new 
town. 

The surveys completed, General Smith advertised 
a sale of lots in his "city," where nothing was to be 
seen but tall prairie grass. This action occasioned 
astonishment, not unmixed with ridicule, on the 
part of the contented inhabitants of Georgetown and 
vicinity. 

They were moving on in the even tenor of their 
way [writes Mrs. M. E. Smith], visiting their neigh- 
bors, making additions to their homes, attending 
their little church meetings and sabbath schools, 
while his busy brain was active day and night and 
his great tireless form was almost always in the 
saddle, ever on the alert to work out his new and 
inspiring dream. His railroad and political affairs 
led him frequently into the surrounding towns and 
neighborhoods, and threw him among the people. 
The new town was his constant theme ; but the peo- 
ple laughed and ridiculed, and he, in jocular mood, 
would retort happily and sarcastically, and push on 
his enterprise. Boonville had been our resort for 
merchandise, for the education of our young ladies, 
and for all the higher social functions. In that town 
especially he had familiar friends with whom the 
jests ran high. He predicted, in his own inim- 



290 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

itable way, the downfall of their town and their 
turning to us for all these good things, as we had 
for so many years turned to them. They called him 
crazy, and the jests went on and on. 

Finally, the day came for the first public sale of 
lots (September 4, 1858), and out of amusement 
and curiosity the people flocked to the prairie town. 
The bidding began, and some lots were sold ; but 
sold at prices that now seem incredibly low. 
Seventy-five and fifty dollars were considered 
good prices for lots that would now bring ten, fif- 
teen, and twenty thousand dollars. Another sale 
was announced for the near future (October 20), 
and at this the bidding was more spirited than at 
the first. By the people of Georgtown his warnings 
even yet were unheeded ; and when he ofifered his 
own home there, ''The Academy," for sale, they 
were astonished beyond measure. An enterprising 
Kentuckian became the purchaser, even in the face 
of our father's assertion that the decline of George- 
town was the cause of his selling. 

To help on the growth of the new town he bought 
a tract of timber-land on Flat creek, about three 
miles from the site of the town, and erected a saw- 
mill to saw lumber for building operations. The 
first output of this mill was used for building his 
own house. My mother and sister, in full sympathy 
with him, moved into the little cottage in May, 1859. 
I was married just when we left Georgetown, and 
made my new home in Saline county. The isolated 
life of the prairie was a contrast for my mother and 
sister from the old-time busy social life of George- 
town; but they enjoyed it no less than our father 
did. The haste to begin the new town was so great 
that they moved to the cottage before fences — then 
very necessary — were built, and before outhouses 
(except the smoke-house, which was temporarily 



THE NAME "SEDALIA" 291 

occupied by the negroes) were erected. But they did 
not mind the primitive Hfe, and were happy in 
dreams of the future, enjoying the jokes and at- 
tempted fun at their expense from the old George- 
town people and the Heath's creek settlers ; for the 
neighborhood of Flat creek, where the new town 
was located, was not so pretentious socially. The 
rich Kentuckians of Heath's creek opposed Sedville, 
because if it materialized it would take the county 
seat a few miles farther from them. When our 
family would visit Georgetown they were met with 
the salutation, ''How are you, Flat creek?" They 
enjoyed these jokes, because their faith was such 
that they thought the joke would soon be the other 
way. Our father would say laughingly to the 
Georgetown people, "You will all soon pull down 
your houses and move them out to the new town." 

The name of the new town was quite a puzzle, 
and gave our family great pleasure in its selection. 
Our father and mother decided to name it for my 
sister, laughingly saying to me, "Bet, we once 
named a flat-boat for you, and we will name the 
town for your sister." Her pet name was "Sed," so 
they called the town "Sedville." Often my sister 
and I would accompany our father on his business 
trips to St. Louis in the interest of the Pacific rail- 
road. There our father had delightful friends, and 
among them was Mr. Josiah Dent. He became very 
much interested in the new town and in its name. 
The "ville" was decidedly objectionable, as it did not 
comport with the large and flourishing city of his 
dreams. Mr. Dent suggested the termination "alia" 
in its place, and this so delighted him that it was at 
once accepted. Since then the town has been called 
Sedalia. 

The new mill meanwhile was busy helping to 
build up the town, all the lumber being sawed from 



292 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the native trees. Our own house was speedily en- 
larged, and cabins built for the negroes. But people 
from the Eastern States, together with a few from 
Missouri, came pouring in so rapidly that the 
capacity of our house, even with its enlarged pro- 
portions, was not enough to accommodate those who 
came to buy lots. We had to enlarge again to take 
in the strangers, until they could erect temporary 
shanties in which to house themselves while build- 
ing for their families. Georgetown people were still 
happy, improving their town and laughing at us. In 
a few months I came back from Saline, and became 
one of the prairie family. 

Our little cottage was a marvel of sweetness, 
sanctity, and industry. The former environment of 
our lives, daily personal contact with neighbors and 
friends, the routine duties of a settled home, were 
given up for this apparently wild enterprise of locat- 
ing in the prairie, with only a dream of the on- 
coming city. The broad prairie stretched itself out 
to the horizon on all sides, without shrub or tree ; 
and all that summer the sun poured its torrid rays 
unobstructedly upon us. Our father labored and 
toiled in his department; and our mother and my 
sister would take the negro boys that were unem- 
ployed, with the carriage and horses, to Flat creek, 
where they would pull up, and dig up out of the 
ground, little sprouts of maple, elm, and other trees, 
and bring them home to plant in the yard. As the 
season was already far advanced, they would pro- 
tect the little sprouts by putting chairs and driving 
down sticks around them, over which were spread 
sheets and blankets to protect them from the heat. 
At night they were disrobed of their covering and 
carefully watered ; and the same process was re- 
peated day after day throughout the summer. When 
the autumn came on, the little trees were ready for 



THE NEW HOME 293 

stronger rooting and this constant care was re- 
laxed. A large inclosure had now been made for 
the garden ; and they again went to the woods in the 
autumn, bringing this time walnut, hickory nut, per- 
simmon, plum, and crab-apple trees ; these they 
planted in the garden for future orchards. 

In the fall the cattle that had been transferred 
from Georgetown had been accommodated in tem- 
porary inclosures. There were no quarries open 
yet, and we were so far from everything that our 
house was still without "underpinning." The hogs 
often escaped from their pens, and seeking the only 
available shelter from cold and storm, they would 
pile themselves up under the house until they would 
shake the little fabric to its foundation ; and their 
midnight music is more agreeable to remember than 
it was then to endure. The snow fell mercilessly 
that winter ; and the winds, blowing their wild 
diapason, were often a prelude to the foot-weary 
traveler's entrance, in his journey across the bleak 
prairie, asking food and shelter, and even raiment, 
which he always found ; it flowed from our sweet 
mother's heart and hand like honey from the honey- 
comb. 

When the following spring opened, we were 
happy and joyous as the sunshine, at the promise 
of advancing civilization ; and the sound of the ham- 
mer and the saw and the hum of progress were a 
panacea for all our discomforts. A touch of romance 
was put into the hardest toil, and lifted the eye to 
the contemplation of pictures beyond the actual and 
the real, and elevated the soul to beatific vision. 
Every stroke of the hammer was music, every nail a 
seal of compact between the imperfect present and 
that vast illimitable future which no human concep- 
tion could forecast or bound. 

The first house built that year was on the north 



294 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

side of the railroad ; and there a Httle baby was 
born, who was most appropriately named "Sedalia." 
Where now is little Sedalia Skinner? Perhaps she 
is become the mother of future fathers of towns, 
and of still further progress ; a dame of forty years 
and more : let us hope she is doing credit to her 
birthplace somewhere in the great hive of humanity. 
In the following summer our harmonies were dis- 
turbed ; for then the war of the Rebellion com- 
menced weaving its net and drawing its cords of 
death so tightly around us that hope began to die. 

All this while the railroad was slowly advancing. 
At every little town east of Sedalia, as it became 
temporarily the termination of the line, the people 
fancied that that would be the place for the concen- 
tration of the trade of the Southwest, and that it 
was to become a great city. Stores and houses were 
built accordingly, only to be torn down and trans- 
ferred to the next station as the road moved on. 
The excitement often ran high. Five miles east of 
Sedalia, where Dr. W. L. Felix had hoped to found 
a town, the tracks were torn up in a vain attempt 
to hinder the further progress of the road. This 
brings us to January, 1861. The war of the Re- 
bellion was now coming upon us, and more serious 
things than railroads began to occupy the attention 
of the people. 

The year 1861 was a somber one for General 
Smith. In the hostile clash of arms he saw his most 
cherished political principles and his fondest ma- 
terial hopes placed at once in jeopardy. The preser- 
vation of the Union of the States, the speedy com- 
pletion of the Pacific road, the building up of his 
new city, — were all put to hazard, with the chances 



HIS WIFE'S DEATH 295 

at least even against a favorable result. To these 
perplexities and anxieties there was added severe 
family affliction and grievous sorrow. 

All this while [writes Mrs. Smith, in continua- 
tion of her narrative] our blessed mother was 
watching and waiting to see the outcome of her hus- 
band's prophecy, and re-creating in her new home 
the old-time charm of the home we had left. In the 
midst of her enthusiastic labors she was taken with 
pneumonia ; and on the 226. of April, — eight days 
after the fall of Fort Sumter, and just as the clar- 
ion blast of the locomotive whistle announced the 
departure of the morning train, — the White Angel 
came into our little home and claimed her spirit. 
Her work was finished, and we laid her away ; while 
we who remained, with saddened hearts, took up 
again the burden of labor for the future. It was 
well for us, perhaps, that total abandonment to grief 
was not possible, and that our sorrow was sanctified 
and perhaps mitigated by the overwhelming and 
rapidly changing events of our country's history. 
In the consternation which these aroused within 
us, we were sometimes almost glad that the sweet 
little mother had been removed from the perils of 
the hour. 

In less than three months my own bright-eyed 
little boy followed her; and in our home, now 
doubly darkened, we three, — my father, my sister, 
and myself, — were left alone. . . . But we 
must shut our personal darkness and scatter only 
sunshine from the leaves of this book. 

The death of his wife touched General Smith in 
the tenderest depths of his nature. The affliction was 
not one from which he easily recovered. Fifteen 



296 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

years later, in speaking of these events, he said: 
"She is as present with me now as when she was 
Hving. If it had not been for her, I should not have 
been worth anything, either morally or financially. 
She had more wisdom than any woman I ever 
knew." 

Her children, looking back through the two-score 
years that have intervened since her death, bear wit- 
ness to her wisdom and goodness. Mrs. Cotton 
writes : 

I remember her in my childhood's early days as 
one I could not easily get around ; a woman keen, 
vigilant, and austere in the management of her 
household and her children ; a mother tender and 
loving, kind and sagacious ; a wife faithful and true ; 
strict in discipline and holding wisely the reins of 
power. 

As a neighbor she was kind and obliging, but she 
never fell into that familiarity that breeds contempt. 
Refusing to borrow under almost any circum- 
stances, she held the esteem and love of her next- 
door neighbor ; scorning gossip, she kept largely at 
home, feeling that her hands were full in training 
her children and servants. 

Her children, she had determined, should not be 
victims to the evils of slavery as she felt she had 
been ; and to this end she bent her daily efforts. 
Not wishing us to be idle, she found something for 
us to do in learning to knit, to sew, to wind yarn 
(cotton especially, as in those days the negroes wove 
much of the cloth they wore), and a thousand other 
domestic duties, — many times inventing them just 
to keep us busy. Once when she was making us 
work and wait on ourselves, while a slave stood idly 



^ ^ 




MRS. GEORGE R. SMITH 
Aged Forty-nine 



HER CHARACTER 297 

by, a sister-in-law remonstrated with her, saying: 
"Sister AleHta, you will ruin that negro." But our 
mother pleasantly replied : "Well, I had rather ruin 
the negro than ruin my children." I remember one 
experience in winding yarn that tried my impatient 
soul most severely. I had permitted it to tangle, and 
I think my mother kept me at that "hank" for almost 
a week. I have forgotten just how long it was; but 
I know that no snarl of yarn or silk now appals me, 
for I feel equal to the task. Whether this discipline 
was wise or not, I dare not say in the multitude of 
latter-day opinions ; but I am sure it taught me pa- 
tience. 

I was a wayward child, and thought then that our 
mother was giving us more work than was neces- 
sary. I once tried to argue with her, and asked for 
a reason. She said she wished us to love work ; and 
I, in my cause, most earnestly replied : "Well, if 
that is what you want, mother, you can never, never, 
never make me love it !" She of course smiled, and 
pursued the even tenor of her way, nothing daunted 
in her courage. Time has proved that my mother 
knew best, and I thank her to-day for what then 
chafed my idle spirit and curbed my youthful folly. 

When we rebelled we were sure of a time of retri- 
bution. She never would strike us hastily with her 
hand, but would make the punishment so delicate 
and circumstantial that the final administration, 
though a trifle, was to our child hearts very, very 
bad. She would send for a switch bv one of the 
servants, and thus give us a time of anticipation 
and horror. The capital offense was going outside 
our large door-yard to play. Our mother kept us in 
strict surveillance and held us within its limits, ex- 
cept by special permission when we had good com- 
pany. 

I remember her as somewhat fond of dress, 



298 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

though compared to my aunt Elvira, for whom I 
was named, and who dressed beautifully, she was 
very plain in costume. But in my love of colors I 
remember her in pink and white and blue and white 
ginghams, in olive green in winter, and in white in 
summer. She did not like black, and would never 
wear it, even as mourning for the nearest and dear- 
est of her family. She thought gladness and bright- 
ness the important thing, and her cheerfulness was a 
great feature in her life. She would keep us busy 
in some way during the day, and when twilight came 
she would romp and play with us. These seasons of 
recreation were such bright spots in the daily life 
that they still give special charm for me to the 
gloaming. 

In the period that elapsed between General 
Smith's defeat for Congress in August, 1858, and 
the beginning of the war in April, 1861, his polit- 
ical opinions were in a transition state. He in com- 
mon with Rollins and others was coming to despair 
of the attempt to build up a compromise party to 
avert the danger of a sectional struggle between 
North and South. The conflict, it was becoming ap- 
parent, was "irrepressible." They must choose be- 
tween the absolute dominance of the pro-slavery 
Democracy, and some party which could center in 
itself the Northern strength. But that party could 
only be the reviled Republican party ; and its suc- 
cess must lead to secession, and secession to war. 
It was nothing strange to find Southern Union men, 
before the irrevocable cast of the die, hesitating be- 
tween two opinions. 

At the beginning of the period it was the neces- 



POLITICAL TRANSITION 299 

sity of consolidating the opposition strength that 
was most evident. September 9, 1858, Rolhns 
wrote : 

I watched your movements last summer with a 
great deal of interest. The idea of a third party is 
preposterous now. We have to meet the question, 
and we had as well do it at once. If there must be 
a sectional fight, we can at least say it has not been 
provoked by us, or by our party. The signs look 
encouraging for a national union of the opposition. 
If this is effected, our triumph in i860 will be easy. 

The treason of Anderson and Woodson has great- 
ly damaged us in Missouri ; so much so that I fear 
the opposition can not be consolidated here. We 
must, however, not give it up ; we must continue 
to make an earnest effort to accomplish a thorough 
union for the great trial of i860. 

In these sentiments it is probable that General 
Smith concurred. His opposition to sectionalism 
and his love of the Union were fundamental ; but 
so too was his hatred of the ignorance, the arro- 
gance, the duplicity, and the continual aggression 
of the slave-barons of the Democratic party. He 
hated that party with a stalwart hatred ; but it was 
a hatred without malice or personal rancor. His 
own experience with politics in recent years had 
taught him the futility of half-way measures ; his 
own strong feelings must have inclined him to any 
measures that promised success ; but the habits of 
a life-time, the influence of environment, and the 
prejudices founded on perverse report and malign- 
ing rumor, caused him to hesitate to become that 



300 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

most despicable of beings in Southern eyes, a 
"Black Republican." 

Hence arose a period of political indecision, when 
old instincts and feelings were slowly dying, new 
habits of thought were arising, and throughout all 
was the anxious waiting on the turn of the political 
wheel. He and his friends had tried their utmost 
and failed ; now they waited, — in silence, for the 
most part, — to see the outcome. They formed no 
definite plans, and had but little heart for political 
correspondence. General Smith was engrossed with 
far-reaching schemes of material betterment, and 
the griefs of personal bereavement. In these facts, 
and in the disorder attendant upon establishing a 
new home, is to be found the explanation of the 
almost total lack of political correspondence in the 
two years immediately preceding the war. 

What part to play in the election of i860, when 
at last parties and candidates arrayed themselves, 
was necessarily a matter of anxious thought to 
General Smith. Breckinridge, the candidate of the 
ultra pro-slavery Democracy, was out of the ques- 
tion. Douglas, in spite of his ringing declarations 
that he would "do all in [his] power to aid the 
government of the United States in maintaining 
the supremacy of the laws against all resistance to 
them, come from what quarter it might," was dis- 
trusted. Lincoln, if not entirely, in Mr. Bagehot's 
language, "Statesman X" (an unknown quantity), 
was feared as the leader of a fanatic and sectional 
party. After a period of long and careful delibera- 



PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES 301 

tion, General Smith determined to support Bell of 
Tennessee, and Everett of Massachusetts, — ^the 
nominees of the old-line Whigs and Americans un- 
der the name of the Constitutional Union party, — 
whose platform was, ''the Constitution of the coun- 
try, the Union of the States, and the enforcement 
of the laws." This remedy for the national ills may 
have been, in Mr. Rhodes' metaphor, a plaster 
where cauterization rather was needed ; but the can- 
didates certainly were ''men of honesty and ex- 
perience," and the nominations and platform ap- 
proved themselves to thousands of patriotic and 
conservative citizens, North and South. In spite of 
many pressing and exacting business affairs con- 
nected with the founding of the new town, General 
Smith, as usual, took an active part in the cam- 
paign, and delivered at least one speech for Bell 
and Everett. This was at Otterville, then the ter- 
minus of the Pacific road. According to Mr. 
George S. Grover, — the son of General Smith's old 
friend and collaborer in political and railroad af- 
fairs, who was at that time clerk in the Otterville 
depot, — the speech was "soul-stirring" and was 
delivered "from the depot platform to a large 
crowd. . . In response to a question as to his 
position on the slavery question, he said that slavery 
was a blight and a curse to a nation, which would 
sooner or later have to be destroyed in order to save 
the Union ; and when asked if he was not a slave- 
holder himself, promptly replied that he had been, 
having inherited them ; but that he had voluntarily 



302 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

emancipated them, and never intended to own an- 
other human being. This statement," concludes 
Mr. Grover, ''made a powerful impression on me, 
and went far towards confirming anti-slavery opin- 
ions already formed." 

Mr. Grover's recollection must be at fault in rep- 
resenting General Smith as saying, in i860, that he 
had already emancipated his slaves. *'Our father," 
writes Mrs. Smith, "liberated his slaves in this way. 
When Fort Sumter was fired upon, and war was 
actually upon us, he explained the situation to our 
slaves, told them they would be free, and told them 
they could do as they pleased nozv. They were de- 
lighted of course. The boys left us that summer, 
some hiring themselves to officers of the Govern- 
ment as body-servants. The women stayed perhaps 
a year later, doing as they pleased." 

In Pettis county Lincoln received only two votes ; 
the Douglas Democrats carrying the day, with the 
Constitutional Union party second. As Pettis 
county went, in this case, so went the State. Of the 
165,000 votes cast in Missouri, the bulk was almost 
equally divided (58,801 to 58,372) between the 
Douglas and Bell-Everett tickets ; Breckinridge and 
Lincoln received 31,317 and 17,028 votes respec- 
tively. General Smith's own vote is doubtful. His 
daughters are agreed that he was too advanced to 
go enthusiastically for Bell and Everett. One thinks 
he did not vote at all, the other is uncertain. As the 
ballot had now superseded viva voce voting in Pettis 
county, there is a bare possibility that one of the two 



LINCOLN ELECTED 303 

votes cast for Lincoln may have represented the 
eleventh hour conversion of General Smith to his 
cause. At all events his conversion to Republican- 
ism, — and that of the most radical type, — was not 
far distant. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 
(1861— 1865) 

Character of the war in Missouri — Party positions on slav- 
ery and Union — Gratz Brown's speech on emancipation, 
1857 — Governor Stewart's address, and Governor Jack- 
son's inaugural, 1861 — The Missouri Convention votes 
against secession — Refusal of Governor Jackson to abide 
by its decision — The war begun — General Smith's atti- 
tude — Appointed Adjutant-General after Jackson's ex- 
pulsion — Letters of J. F. Philips and T. T. Crittenden — 
Resigns — Financial difficulties — Letters to his daughters, 
1862 — Unsuccessful candidacy for the legislature, 1862 — 
Radicals and Conservatives — Unsatisfactory action of the 
latter on the slavery question — The Radical or "Char- 
coal" convention of 1863 — Member of the Radical em- 
bassy to President Lincoln — The latter's attitude — Polit- 
ical victory of the Radicals, 1864 — In the State Senate, 
1864-5 — His prominence in the Radical party — Speech 
advocating the vacation of State offices held by disloyal 
persons — The final abolition of slavery by the Conven- 
tion, 1865 — Accepts office of Assistant United States As- 
sessor, and his seat in Senate vacated — Governor Fletch- 
er's summary of his course. 

In no State was the preliminary contest between 
the advocates of Union and Secession, in the winter 
and spring of 1860-61, more warmly waged than in 
Missouri ; and in none did the subsequent struggle 

304 



CHARACTER OF THE WAR 305 

more clearly partake of the character of a civil war. 
There neighbor was often literally arrayed against 
neighbor, brother against brother. Few States can 
show an equal proportion of troops regularly en- 
rolled, on the one side and the other ; while over and 
above the destruction of property and of life by the 
regular forces of Union and Confederacy, were the 
secret killing and wanton devastation inflicted by 
lurking Confederate ''bushwhackers" and irrespon- 
sible Federal "jayhawkers." "We question whether 
the people of any portion of the Union, not even ex- 
cepting the loyal inhabitants of East Tennessee," 
said the Missouri Democrat, February 21, 1865, 
"have endured as much in the maintenance of their 
principles as the loyal men and women of South- 
western Missouri. They have at no time been secure 
— have been allowed no rest since the war began — 
have almost constantly been engaged in meeting and 
repelling, or at least opposing, rebel raids from Ar- 
kansas and the Indian Territory. To their infinite 
credit must it be said that their exposure and hard- 
ships have at no time produced the least relaxation 
in their fidehty, or caused them to lose heart in the 
contest. No more loyal and determined people can 
anywhere be found to-day, plundered and impover- 
ished as they have been, than in Southwestern Mis- 
souri." One result of the trial and suffering to 
which the loyal element of the State was subjected, 
was the deepening of political animosities. In no 
State were the unconditional Union men wrought 
up to a higher pitch of bitterness against the luke- 



3o6 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

warm adherents of their cause ; and in none was 
more dissatisfaction felt and expressed with what 
was thought to be the too cautious and conservative 
pohcy of President Lincoln. 

Despite the existence of a strong and intolerant 
pro-slavery sentiment in the State, as shown in the 
Kansas troubles, despite, too, the social and family 
ties which bound her people to the South, Missouri 
was by geographical position and economic inter- 
ests destined to take her place in the list of non- 
slaveholding commonwealths. With the growth of 
population westward and the development of Mis- 
souri's natural resources, the cause of Slavery 
steadily declined, and that of Freedom rose in the 
scale. In 1857, ^ St. Louis paper had styled the ex- 
istence of an emancipation party in the State "an 
impossibility, an impertinence, a nuisance, and a 
humbug,"^ but this was mere whistling to keep up 
one's courage. Such a party, or at least the elements 
out of which it was to be formed, actually did exist, 
and was outspoken in its utterances. "Every emi- 
grant from the East or Europe," said the Missouri 
Democrat editorially, in reply to the foregoing as- 
sertions, "every mile of railroad constructed in the 
State, and every mine opened, is the auxiliary of 
that party. It will summon its recruits from the 
factory, the work-shop, and the field ; and so far 
from being a political and economic blunder . . 
it is the organization which of all others conforms 

^ St. Louis Intelligencer, quoted by the Missouri Democrat, 27 
February, 1857. 



AN EMANCIPATION PARTY 307 

most strictly to the principles of political and eco- 
nomic science." 

The occasion for the foregoing utterances was 
the speech on emancipation delivered by B. Gratz 
Brown in the Missouri House of Representatives, 
alluded to in his letter to General Smith, of March 
3, 1857 (see p. 259). The speech was called forth 
by the introduction in the House of a Senate joint 
resolution, declaring that ''the emancipation of the 
slaves held as property in this State would be not 
only impracticable, but that any movement having 
such an object in view would be inexpedient, im- 
politic, unwise, and unjust, and should in the opin- 
ion of this General Assembly be discountenanced by 
the people of the State." The introduction of this 
resolution, Browm declared, removed all restraints 
upon the opponents of slavery from discussing the 
subject, and "made emancipation henceforth and 
forever an open question." 

Slavery would be aboHshed, he continued, not as 
an act of humanity to the slave, but out of regard for 
the free white laborer. "It will be here, as elsewhere, 
a conflict of race; and I do say that the increase of 
free white population, together with the white emi- 
gration from the other States coming to Missouri 
will, whenever and wherever the labor of the white 
man meets the labor of the slave, beside the same 
plowshare, in the same harvest field, face to face, 
not only be entitled to demand, but will receive, the 
preference ; and that the labor of the white man will 
force the labor of the slave to give place and take 



3o8 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

itself off." By reference to statistics he showed that 
*'the extinction of slavery as a system in our midst is 
at this moment in the course of rapid accomplish- 
ment." ''Missouri must, ere long, from the opera- 
tion of natural causes, rid herself of the institution. 
In all our domestic relations, as well as in our rela- 
tions as a State of this confederacy, Missouri would 
be benefitted by the liberation and riddance of every 
slave within her borders." He warned his fellow 
Representatives that while they were "higgling 
. . for the endorsement of an effete system of 
slavery, the empire of the world" was gliding from 
their grasp, and passing to the free States on their 
borders. "Missouri," he added, "has nothing in 
common with the South, either in national or home 
concerns. Nor does she owe any debt of gratitude" 
to that section.^ 

With these views Blair and other leaders of the 
Benton Democracy fully concurred. In St. Louis 
and vicinity, where the population was largely Ger- 
man, the anti-slavery sentiment was pronounced ; it 
was there that the Republican party showed its chief 
strength in the election of i860. Blair, by that date, 
was acting in full accord with the latter party, and 
is credited with originating the "Wide Awakes," 
which played so important a part in the Lincoln 
campaign. When it became evident that the South 
would not abide by the decision of the election, 
Blair threw himself energetically into the work of 

^ The speech is given in full in the Missouri Democrat, Febru- 
ary — , 1857. 



CONDITIONAL UNIONISTS 309 

consolidating adherents of Lincoln, Bell, and Doug- 
las, into one Unconditional Union party whose ob- 
ject was to resist the intrigues of the Secessionists, 
— by political action preferably, by force if need 
were. 

The number of the Unconditional Union men was 
small at first; but their leaders hoped that enough 
Conditional Union men might be won over to their 
side, when the crisis came, to carry the day. The 
attitude assumed by the latter may be seen in the 
speech which Governor Stewart, himself a Northern 
man by birth, addressed to the General Assembly of 
the State, at the opening of its session, December 
31, i860: 

Missouri loves the Union while it is the pro- 
tector of equal rights, but will despise it as the 
instrument of wrong. She came into the Union 
upon a compromise, and is willing to abide by a fair 
compromise still ; not such ephemeral contracts as 
are enacted by Congress to-day, and repealed to- 
morrow; but a compromise, assuring all the just 
rights of the States, and agreed to in solemn Con- 
vention of all the parties interested. . . 

As matters are at present, Missouri will stand by 
her lot, and hold to the Union as long as it is worth 
an effort to preserve it. So long as there is hope of 
success she will seek for justice within the Union. 
She can not be frightened from her propriety by the 
past unfriendly legislation of the North, nor be 
dragooned into secession by the extreme South. If 
those who should be our friends and allies, under- 
take to render our property worthless by a system 
of prohibitory laws, or by reopening the slave-trade 



3IO LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

in opposition to the moral sense of the civihzed 
world, and at the same time reduce us to the posi- 
tion of an humble sentinel to watch over and protect 
their interests, receiving all of the blows and none 
of the benefits, Missouri will hesitate long before 
sanctioning such an arrangement. She will rather 
take the high position of armed neutrality. She is 
able to take care of herself, and will be neither 
forced nor flattered, driven nor coaxed, into a 
course of action that must end in her own destruc- 
tion. 

If South Carolina and other cotton States persist 
in secession, she will desire to see them go in peace, 
with the hope that a short experience at separate 
governments, and an honorable readjustment of the 
Federal compact, will induce them to return to their 
former position. In the meantime, Missouri will 
hold herself in readiness at any minute to defend 
her soil from pollution and her property from plun- 
der by fanatics and marauders, come from what 
quarter they may. The people of Missouri will 
choose this deliberate, conservative course, both on 
account of the blessings they have derived from the 
Union, and the untold and unimagined evils that 
will come with its dissolution. 

. . Whilst I would recommend the adoption of 
all proper measures and influences to secure the just 
acknowledgement and protection of our rights, and 
in the final failure of this a resort to the last pain- 
ful remedy of separation ; yet, regarding as I do the 
American confederacy as a source of a thousand 
blessings, pecuniary, social, and moral, and its de- 
struction as fraught with incalculable loss, suffer- 
ing, and crime, I would here, in my last public of- 
ficial act as Governor of Missouri, record my solemn 
protest against unwise and hasty action, and my 



SECESSIONISTS 311 

unalterable devotion to the Union so long as it can 
be made the protector of equal rights.^ 

Representative of the views of the Secessionists 
was the speech delivered to the Assembly, a few 
days later, by Claiborne F. Jackson, Stewart's suc- 
cessor in the governorship. He was a Southerner 
of the pronounced type, and as chairman of the 
legislative committee on Federal relations in 1849, 
had given his name to the famous "Jackson reso- 
lutions"' which split the Democracy on the slavery 
question. 

The destiny of the slaveholding States of this 
Union [he now said] is one and the same. 
The identity rather than the similarity of their do- 
mestic institutions, their political principles, and 
party usages ; their common origin, pursuits, tastes, 
manners, and customs ; their territorial contiguity 
and commercial relations, — all contribute to bind 
them together in one sisterhood. And Missouri 
will, in my opinion, best consult her own interests, 
and the interests of the whole country, by a timely 
declaration of her determination to stand by her 
sister slaveholding States, in whose wrongs she 
participates and with whose institutions and peoples 
she sympathizes. 

. . If the Northern States have determined to 
put the slaveholding States on a footing of in- 
equality, by interdicting them from all share in the 
Territories acquired by the common blood and 
treasure of all ; if they have resolved to admit no 
more slaveholding States into the Union; and if 
they mean to persist in nullifying that provision of 

^ Snead, The Fight for Missouri, pp. 14-17. 



312 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the Constitution which secures to the slaveholder 
his property when found within the limits of States 
which do not recognize it, or have aboUshed it ; then 
they have themselves practically abandoned the 
Union, and will not expect our submission to a gov- 
ernment on terms of inequality and subordination. 

We hear it suggested in some quarters that the 
Union is to be maintained by the sword. . . The 
first drop of blood shed in a war of aggression upon 
a sovereign State will arouse a spirit which must 
result in the overthrow of our entire Federal sys- 
tem, and which this generation will never see 
quelled. . . 

I am not without hope that an adjustment alike 
honorable to both sections may be effected, . . 
but in the present unfavorable aspect of public af- 
fairs it is our duty to prepare for the worst. We 
can not avoid danger by closing our eyes to it. The 
magnitude of the interests now in jeopardy demands 
a prompt but deliberate consideration ; and in order 
that the will of the people may be ascertained and 
effectuated, a State Convention should, in my view, 
be immediately called. . . In this way the whole 
subject will be brought before the people at large, 
who will determine for themselves what is to be 
the ultimate action of the State. ^ 

Although elected as a Douglas Democrat, Gov- 
ernor Jackson was resolved that Missouri should 
take her place with the Southern States on the ques- 
tions pending. With him, in this aim, acted Lieuten- 
ant-Governor Reynolds, who as president of the 
Senate lent effective aid, the Speaker of the House, 
most of the State officers. General Daniel M. 

1 Snead, The Fight for Missouri, pp. 18-25. 



A CONVENTION CALLED 313 

Frost, commander of the most efficient body of 
State militia, and both United States Senators ; 
while a majority of the members of the General As- 
sembly, as their votes and actions showed, were not 
averse from the movement. 

The combined Lincoln, Douglas, and Bell vote 
showed a decided Union majority in i860, but these 
leaders believed that if the question of secession 
were submitted to the people of Missouri now, an 
overwhelming majority in favor of disunion and al- 
liance with the Confederate States, would be the re- 
sult. According-ly a bill was passed (January 18, 
i860) for a Convention ''to consider the then exist- 
ing relations between the government of the United 
States the people and governments of the different 
States, and the government and people of Missouri ; 
and to adopt such measures for vindicating the sov- 
ereignty of the State and the protection of its insti- 
tutions, as shall appear to them to be demanded/'^ 
L^n fortunately for these plans, the voters of the 
State, largely as a result of the active work of the 
St. Louis Committee of Safety (composed of Oliver 
D. Filley, Francis P. Blair, John How, James O. 
Broadhead, Samuel T. Glover, and Julius J. Wit- 
zig), declared against secession by a majority of 
80,000. Not one avowed secessionist was chosen to 
the Convention ; and when that body assembled, on 
February 28, 1861, it proceeded to pass a series of 
resolutions of which the most significant were the 

^ See Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 
1900, pp. 87-103 (Harding, "Missouri Party Struggles in the Civil 
War Period.") 



314 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

first — declaring that "at present there is no adequate 
cause to impel Missouri to dissolve her connection 
with the Federal Union," — and the fifth — which en- 
treated ''as well the Federal government as the se- 
ceding States to withhold and stay the arm of mili- 
tary power, and on no pretense whatever bring upon 
the nation the horrors of civil war."^ 

This unexpected refusal to be led into the Con- 
federate camp disconcerted the less radical of the 
Secession party. Not so however with Governor 
Jackson and the more ardent leaders. To the action 
of the "sovereign" Convention which they them- 
selves had called, George G. Vest, then a member 
of the State House of Representatives, replied from 
the floor of that Assembly : 'T defy the Convention. 
They are political cheats, jugglers, and charlatans, 
who foisted themselves upon the people by ditties 
and music and striped flags. They do not represent 
Missouri. They have 'crooked the pliant hinges of 
the knee that thrift might follow fawning.' As for 
myself, . . I will never, never, never submit to 
Northern rule and dictation."^ And when President 
Lincoln, on the day after the fall of Fort Sumter, 
issued his call for 75,000 men to repossess the forts 
and places seized from the Union, Governor Jack- 
son replied with a telegram, saying : "Your requisi- 
tion, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, 
and revolutionary in its objects, inhuman and dia- 
bolical, and can not be complied with. Not one man 

^Journal and Proceedings of the Convention, etc., p. 55-8. 
* Snead, The Fight for Missouri, pp. 93-4. 



SECESSION FRUSTRATED 315 

will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on any 
such unholy crusade."^ 

Already plans had been formed for attacking the 
United States arsenal at St. Louis and securing the 
arms stored therein, that troops might be armed to 
fight against the Union. In accordance with this 
design, mortars and siege guns were secretly asked 
from the Confederacy, and a military post, styled 
"Camp Jackson" in honor of the Governor, was es- 
tablished in the neighborhood of the arsenal. It was 
with great difficulty that these intrigues were frus- 
trated ; and the credit for the achievement belongs 
chiefly to Blair and the St. Louis Committee of 
Safety, acting in conjunction with Captain Nathan- 
iel Lyon, who alone possessed the energy, insight, 
and loyalty to overcome the "imbecility or vil- 
lainy'-' of his immediate superiors. But frustrated 
they were. On May 10, Camp Jackson was cap- 
tured by Lyon. On June 12, Lyon, at last in com- 
mand of the Department, closed an interview with 
Governor Jackson at St. Louis in this fashion, as 
narrated by one of the Governor's staff: 

"Rather," said he (he was still seated, and spoke 
deliberately, slowly, and with peculiar emphasis), 
"rather than concede to the State of Missouri the 
right to demand that my Government shall not en- 
list troops within her limits, or bring troops into 
the State whenever it pleases, or move its troops at 
its own will into, out of, or through the State ; 
rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one 

^ War of the Rebellion, A Compilation of the Official Records, 
Series III, Vol. i, p. 83. 



3i6 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

single instant the right to dictate to my Government 
in any matter, however unimportant, 1 would" (ris- 
ing as he said this, and pointing in turn to every one 
in the room), "see you, and you, and you, and you, 
and you, and every man, woman, and child in the 
State, dead and buried." Then turning to the Gov- 
ernor, he said : "This means war. In an hour one 
of my officers will call for you and conduct you out 
of my lines." And then, without another word, 
without an inclination of the head, without even a 
look, he turned upon his heel and strode out of the 
room.^ 

The next day appeared Governor Jackson's proc- 
lamation calling for 50,000 men to drive the Federal 
troops from the State. With this began in Missouri 
the Civil War, — a war waged by the Governor of 
the commonwealth and his abettors, against the 
highest constituted authorities of State and Nation. 

General Smith's course in these trying times was 
one of outspoken and strenuous denunciation of 
every movement which looked directly or remotely to 
a dissolution of the Union. Although a slaveholder 
himself, he warned his fellow slave-owners that 
if they persisted in entering upon an unholy warfare 
against the life of the Nation, it would result in "the 
track of the last slave in Missouri being washed out 
by the blood of the white man." At a mass-meeting 
held at Georgetown in February, 1861, after several 
Conditional Union men had spoken. General Smith 
was called on to express his sentiments. In the 

^ Snead, The Fight for Missouri, pp. 199-200. 



HIS UNIONISM 317 

course of his remarks he declared himself an un- 
qualified Union man. This declaration called forth 
some hisses. Nettled by this, he proceeded to de- 
clare in still more emphatic tones, that he was not 
only unqualifiedly a Union man, but that he was 
heart and soul, then and forever, "unconditionally" 
for the Union, as our fathers had bequeathed it to 
us, adding : "The South has needed a whipping, to 
my certain knowledge, for thirty years ; and I pray 
God for her treason she may get a good one !" It 
was a common saying of his, at this time, that if 
Southern men brought on war, they might "have 
his negroes for three bits a dozen." The only way 
they knew they had a government, he was fond of 
saying, was by the protection it gave them. His 
brother-in-law, Mentor Thomson, was a candidate 
for the Convention, and took the position that if the 
majority of the people of Missouri were in favor of 
seceding he would vote for secession, but if they 
favored staying in the Union he w^ould vote for 
staying in. Some of General Smith's auditors, lis- 
tening to his vehement denunciations of secession, 
sought to attack him through his well-known family 
affections, and asked him if he did not intend to vote 
for Mr. Thomson. To this he replied in thunderous 
tones : "No ! If a rope were tied around Mentor 
Thomson's neck, and my vote would save him, I 
would not vote for him. Furthermore, if every man, 
woman, and child in the State should vote for going 
out, I would vote for staying in ; and if every State 
in the Union should go except Massachusetts, I 



3i8 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

would go to Massachusetts, if I had to crawl on my 
hands and knees to get there!" 

When news came of the firing on Fort Sumter, 
he was active in the effort to enlist troops for the 
Federal cause. Although unable himself to bear 
arms, he became a prime mover in raising the first 
Union company in Pettis county, that commanded 
by Captain Samuel Montgomery. A good picture of 
General Smith's zeal for the Union cause in those 
days is given in the narrative already mentioned by 
Mr. George S. Grover: 

A day or two after the fall of Fort Sumter, 
I was alone in the Sedalia depot one night read- 
ing a letter just received from home, when the 
General came in and asked me when I was going to 
join the Union forces, then being recruited with 
great danger and difficulty in that section. I read 
to him a portion of my father's letter in which he 
stated that he was then actively at work enrolling 
the Union men of Johnson county with the view of 
organizing a regiment, and told him of my purpose 
to start for Warrensburg in the morning to enlist in 
that command. He was greatly pleased, and sat 
down at my desk and wrote a long letter to my fa- 
ther, which he entrusted to me for delivery. 

We entered the service on the first day of May, 
1861, recruiting one company (Co. K, Captain F. 
L. Parker) from Sedalia, and were soon actively 
and busily engaged in Johnson and adjoining 
counties; so that, until July, 1861, when we were 
ordered to report at Jefferson City to Colonel U. S. 
Grant, then commanding that post, we did not meet 
General Smith. But as we then marched through 
Sedalia en route to Jefferson City, the General was 



AIDS COMMITTEE OF SAFETY 319 

the first man there to greet us, and vehemently in- 
sisted on the whole regiment living at free quarters 
on his home place while there. This my father, who 
was then in command, would not permit, and he 
also refused a pressing invitation to stay at the Gen- 
eral's house that night. So, as a compromise, 
General Smith took supper at our mess-table, drink- 
ing black coffee and eating hard-tack and bacon 
with us ; and that night we were drawn up in a line 
near the corner of what is now Main and Ohio 
streets in Sedalia, where the General made a rous- 
ing speech to the regiment. 

In September, 1861, our first news of my father's 
mortal wound at the siege of Lexington was a tele- 
jsram to that effect sent me by General Smith from 
Jefferson City. In December, 1861, as we passed 
through Sedalia, going southwest with the expedi- 
tion under General John Pope, General Smith 
searched the camp until he found me, and shed tears 
like a child as he talked of my father, his departed 
friend. 

Just after the capture of Camp Jackson, while the 
attitude of the Governor and his followers was still 
in doubt. General Smith went to St. Louis to con- 
sult with Lyon and the leaders of the Unconditional 
Union party concerning the condition of affairs in 
Central Missouri. This visit was probably an out- 
come of the circular signed by O. D. Filley, of the 
Committee of Safety, and sent to loyal men through- 
out the State. It urged them to write frequently to 
St. Louis, and give such information as they might 
have concerning the organization of troops under 
Governor Jackson ; asked them to report any out- 
rages perpetrated by Secessionists on Union men ; 



320 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

and recommended that they organize ''as fast as 
possible — with arms if to be had, if not without 
them."^ In Lyon, General Smith found an acquaint- 
ance whom he had been able to assist in some mis- 
hap which had befallen him, several years before, 
while passing through Georgetown with a detach- 
ment of soldiers. Of the men who were at this time 
managing the Union cause in Missouri, and General 
Smith's relations to them, Thomas C. Fletcher, Gov- 
ernor of the State in the closing year of the war, 
wrote (1892) as follows: 

It makes me feel sad and old when I recall that 
time and how few of us are left. Governor Gamble, 
Frank Blair, Gratz Brown, Sam Glover, George R. 
Smith, John How, O. D. Filley, Dr. Sutton, John 
S. Phelps, Willard P. Hall, — all gone ! They were 
the men of '61 whom Lyon trusted, and who loved 
and trusted Lyon. Broadhead, John D. Stevenson, 
John B. Henderson, Giles Filley, James E. Yeat- 
man, and a few others of us are all that are left. 
General Smith came to St. Louis from Sedalia with 
Lyon, and told us on his arrival that Lyon was the 
man we could rely upon. He had talked with him 
and fully understood him. Lyon formed a great es- 
teem for General Smith, and their attachment was 
mutual. I was present when General Smith received 
the intelligence of Lyon's death ; his emotion was 
that of a strong man on learning the sudden death 
of a brother or a son. It was his opinion that if 
Lyon had survived the battle of Wilson's Creek, he 
would have been the great general of the war. I al- 
ways shared that opinion. 

^ Carr, Missouri, p. 310. 



STATE OFFICERS DEPOSED 321 

The contest for the control of the State, mean- 
while, took on new aspects. The commencement of 
hostilities between Governor Jackson and the Fed- 
eral forces led to the reassembling of the Conven- 
tion at Jefferson City on July 22. Its business was 
to deal with the crisis caused by the ''conspiracy" 
which the high officers of the State had formed to 
dissolve the connection of Missouri with the Fed- 
eral Government and to establish through the forms 
of legislation a military despotism. Resolutions 
were adopted by the Convention declaring : ( i ) that 
the offices of the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, 
and Secretary of State were vacated, and their suc- 
cessors would be appointed by the Convention; (2) 
that the seats of members of the General Assembly 
were vacated, and their successors should be elected 
by the people; and (3) that certain "odious laws" 
passed by the last Assembly, in the interest of Se- 
cession, were repealed. On July 31st, the last day of 
this session, the Convention appointed Hamilton R. 
Gamble Governor, Willard T. Hall Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, and Mordecai Oliver Secretary of State. 

Governor Jackson had now returned to the 
southwestern corner of Missouri, where he gathered 
troops and solicited aid from the Confederate au- 
thorities. While the Convention was still in session, 
the advance movement of a combined force of Mis- 
sourians and Confederates was begun, under Gen- 
erals Price and McCulloch. At Wilson's Creek, in 
the neighborhood of Springfield, General Lyon op- 
posed the march of their 10,000 men with a force 



322 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

of but half that number. There on the loth of Au- 
gust was fought the first important battle of the 
war on Missouri soil. After a bloody conflict, Lyon 
was killed while leading a charge, and soon after 
the Federal troops withdrew. 

The condition of the State about this time [wrote 
the Adjutant-General in his report for 1863] was 
deplorable. General Lyon was killed, and his heroic 
little army driven back to RoUa, leaving a large 
number of its wounded in the hands of the enemy. 
General Fremont, so lately come into the charge of 
the Department, of the wants of which he knew so 
little, found himself called upon for troops to defend 
threatened points not only in the valley of the Mis- 
sissippi, but upon the Potomac. The general up- 
rising of the enemies of the Government throughout 
the State, resulting from the defeat of Lyon, who 
used all the appliances usually put forth by des- 
perate men to intimidate those who were of more 
moderate views, produced a reign of terror, of the 
extent of which only those who witnessed it can ap- 
preciate. 

It was at this juncture that the new State govern- 
ment under Governor Gamble entered office, and in 
this, as at first organized, George R. Smith held the 
post of Adjutant-General. 

Sedalia, like the rest of the southwestern portion 
of the State, was left exposed by the disaster at 
Wilson's Creek to Confederate attack, and to the 
"uprising of the enemies of Government" just men- 
tioned. "Desperadoes," writes Mrs. Smith, "were 
turned loose ; Union men were in hiding ; farms 



BECOMES ADJUTANT-GENERAL 323 

were deserted ; slaves were jEleeing from their mas- 
ters ; the sacredness and security of home were 
gone. Life was becoming a chaos." Threats were 
made against General Smith, and friends urged 
upon him the duty of leaving home for a time. 
Yielding to these entreaties he took his two daugh- 
ters in the family carriage and started to drive 
through to Jefferson City. 'Tt was a sad ride," con- 
tinues the foregoing narrative. "We left our ne- 
groes at the deserted home, save one of the younger 
boys who came with us to drive the carriage, and 
take it back home as soon as our father could send 
troops to protect the town. The whole country 
through which we passed was full of returning 
rebels, and their wild bravado and yells saluted us 
on every hand. We begged our fathei to get on the 
back seat of the carriage, for his position was 
known throughout the State from his frequent 
political speeches, and we trembled for his safety. 
This he persistently refused to do. At Syracuse we 
stayed over night at Dr. Moore's, whose family were 
very dear friends of ours, though opposed politi- 
cally. They told us next morning that we were in 
great danger, and that if we stayed longer it was at 
our father's peril. We went on, and reached Jeffer- 
son City in the afternoon of the third day. There, 
after leaving us at the hotel, our father, without 
waiting to brush the dust from his clothes, sought 
Governor Gamble at the Capitol, saying : 'Governor, 
I have had to leave my home with my children. My 
only crime is loyalty to my country ; and now I am 



324 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

ready for whatever you can give me to do.' The 
office of Adjutant-General was vacant at this time; 
the salary which attached to it was only $200 a year. 
It was offered and accepted at once. The Govern- 
ment was soon transferred to St. Louis, and he 
took us with him there and boarded us at Barnum's 
hotel. That place, and indeed the whole of St. 
Louis, was then the scene of much military glare 
and glory. But our father wore no uniform. I was 
sick and under the doctor's care. The times were 
for him too sad, and besides he intended to resign 
as soon as it should be practicable." 

General Smith entered upon the duties of his 
office "with the rank of Brigadier-General and Ad- 
jutant-General," August 24, 1 86 1. That same day 
Governor Gamble issued a proclamation calling into 
the active service of the State, under the old militia 
law, 42,000 men to serve for six months. The or- 
ganization and equipment of this force was General 
Smith's first task. The records of his office had 
been carried off with Governor Jackson ; and all 
arms, supplies, and other munitions of war had 
been seized by the latter to equip the force which he 
was raising under the "odious laws" passed by the 
General Assembly. Nevertheless, General Smith 
proceeded energetically with the work in hand. The 
business of the office was organized ; and general 
orders were issued for the enlistment and organiza- 
tions of troops under Governor Gamble's proclama- 
tion. The difficulties which attended the task — 
growing out of the absence of arms and munitions, 



HIS ACTIVITIES 325 

the lack of a legislative body to pass needed meas- 
ures, and the apathy of General Fremont, the Com- 
mander of the Department — seemed endless. "As 
yet we have few arms, and they have been distrib- 
uted," General Smith was obliged to write one mus- 
tering officer, October i, 1861 ; but "the interest 
manifested everywhere in the State gives promise 
of a full response to the call of the Governor." To 
another, October 4, he wrote that the State had no 
means at that time to pay for horses for cavalry 
companies ; but if the men would furnish their own 
horses, the inspector was authorized to appoint men 
to appraise them, and they would ultimately be paid 
for by the United States government. Every meas- 
ure was used to expedite the enlistment and equip- 
ment of the forces; for, as he wrote September 20, 
"if our troops were to-day in the field, they would 
tell powerfully in giving quiet to the State. "^ 

Of General Smith's activities at this time, Gov- 
ernor Fletcher contributes the following account in 
the sketch before quoted : 

The first commissions issued to officers of the 
Missouri troops, in 1861, bear the signature of 
George R. Smith as Adjutant-General. I was on 
duty at the time in the Provost-Marshal-General's 
office and assisted General Smith's clerk of nights 
in filling out those commissions. Many of them are 
treasured by their possessors above all other earthly 
possessions. . . As showing the generous-heart- 
ed patriotism of General Smith, I recall an instance 

^ From letter-books in the Adjutant-General's office, at Jefferson 
City. 



326 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

in the spring or summer of 1861. A regiment was 
completed and mustered in as the 13th Infantry, as 
I now recollect. The commissions were made for 
the officers ; they received them from General Smith 
and he said : ''Now go, be mustered in and get your 
uniforms at once." When some of them remarked 
that they had neither money nor credit to get uni- 
forms, swords, etc., he said: "Well, boys, — here, I 
will give you an order to a tailor and assume per- 
sonal responsibility for you." He gave at least a 
dozen of them such orders, and they went away 
happy and secured fine uniforms. How many of 
them he had to pay for I never knew, but some of 
them were soon after killed in battle, and of course 
he paid for the uniforms of those. 

The private letters preserved by General Smith 
from this period are few, but among them are two 
that may be quoted. The first is from Colonel John 
F. Philips, his fellow-townsman, who later rendered 
excellent service to the Union cause in the field, but 
who was then a refugee in Kentucky. It is dated 
Danville, Ky., September 16, 1861 : 

Your good letter was duly received, for which f 
am under renewed obligations to you. I am sad 
over the lamentable condition of Missouri, and pray 
God that the day of her deliverance mav not be far 
in the future. I trust that a hearty and energetic 
co-operation between the Federal and State forces 
may result speedily in the complete overthrow and 
demolition of the Jackson despotism in Missouri, 
and that peace may once more be restored to her 
people by their recognition of the majesty and 
beneficence of the American government. Surely 
the people of Missouri must be sick of their fatal 



HIS ACTIVITIES 327 

Saturnalia, and have learned from bitter experience 
that the government of their fathers is far better 
than their present state of transition to monarchy. 

I regret that you are unable at present to accom- 
modate me with a desirable post ; yet it is gratifying 
to know, from all posts being filled, that the men of 
Missouri are coming forward, at least for the haz- 
ard of distinction. 

Kentucky is now convulsed with excitement to 
the very center of her great heart. In addition to 
the occupation of Hickman and Columbus by the 
Confederates, we are notified this morning, by spe- 
cial messenger, that the Tennesseeans with a large 
force have invaded Kentucky at Cumberland Gap. 
This arouses the people, and thousands of true sol- 
diery will instantly report themselves ready to 
march against the invaders. You will learn from 
the legislative proceedings at Frankfort how Ken- 
tucky stands, and how she will regard her recreant 
sons. 

The second letter is from T. T. Crittenden, of 
Lexington, Mo., who also became a colonel on the 
Union side, and rendered honorable service in the 
field. It bears date Lexington, Ky., September 22 ; 
and like the letter of Colonel Philips, is in reply to 
one from General Smith acknowledging the receipt 
of the offer of his services in the Missouri militia : 

I felt, General, when reading your letter, that it 
was almost from my beloved father, who has slept, 
as you are well aware, with the dead for twenty- 
five years ; and it will ever be retained and treas- 
ured as a precious relic . . . from one who is 
with heart and hand struggling patriotically to 
rescue this beloved land of ours from the worse 



328 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

than Vandal wreckers. The past has never re- 
paid you for what you have done ; the future 
will, when the impartial historian performs his 
duty. I appreciate the difficulties with which you 
have had and still are having- to contend ; it will be 
only the more important that you should exert your- 
self and develop those high talents with which God 
has so amply blessed you. Since my acquaintance 
with you, I have thought an opportunity was all that 
was necessary, and you would be the man for the 
occasion. Now is the time; you are the man; Mis- 
souri is the subject; and the unity of our States as 
one grand whole is the problem. . . 

I am perfectly willing to do what I can to sustain 
my Government, which I am for unconditionally, 
regardless of what falls before it in its desperate 
struggle for future existence, and regardless of who 
are to be its future problematical rulers. And all I 
ask for now is a place to work, a work to do ; and if 
there is not more cowardice in my heart than I sup- 
pose, it shall be done. . . It is my opinion, as 
well as Uncle John Crittenden's, that as I live in 
Missouri and expect hereafter to do so — unless she 
is dragged into the Confederate States — I should 
return there to do my fighting. . . 

The storm is rapidly coming on in poor old neu- 
tral Kentucky, at last. . . John C. Breckinridge 
has fled to Tennessee, — is a violent traitor. Our 
legislature is at last acting boldly. Uncle John Crit- 
tenden is full of fight. His old eye glistens with its 
wonted beauty when he converses about Tennessee 
invading Kentucky. Time will soon place all things 
right. 

General Smith held the office of Adjutant-Gen- 
eral for a little over three months, — to be exact, 
from August 24, to November 30, 1861. Those were 



HIS PROPERTY DESTROYED 329 

the trying days of the war in Missouri, when the 
provisional State government was getting started, 
and the vanity, incapacity, and poHtical ambition of 
General Fremont were exposing Missouri to the last 
extremity of Confederate invasion and bushwhack- 
ing depredation. General Smith saw from the be- 
ginning that one of the first duties of the Federal 
forces was to reoccupy Sedalia, the terminus of the 
Pacific road, and so dominate the western and south- 
western sections of the State. But, as Lincoln was 
regretfully forced to admit, Fremont had "abso- 
lutely no military capacity ;" and against the apathy 
and red-tape of the Commander of the Department, 
little could be done. Fremont was relieved of his 
command October 24, 1861 ; but by this time new 
difficulties had arisen to beset General Smith. His 
personal affairs at Sedalia were going from bad to 
worse. General Franz Sigel had now advanced with 
Union forces and occupied that place, and the ne- 
cessities of the troops and animals in his command 
led him to requisition supplies of all sorts from the 
neighborhood. As stated by General Smith in a 
speech two years later, they ''had stripped his farm 
and laid his premises waste. Three thousand cords 
of wood had been taken. . . A number of acres 
of hay and oats, and a large quantity of corn had 
been removed. Nearly all the rails had been stripped 
from his place, and hardly anything was left but his 
house and yard."^ 

^ St. Louis Republican, September 2, 1863. Damages to the ex- 
tent of $7,500 were awarded General Smith by a military commis- 
sion; but, as he stated, he "hadn't got the money and didn't know 



330 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Moreover, differences of opinion with respect to 
the poHcy to be pursued by the State government 
had sprung up between General Smith and Gov- 
ernor Gamble. The latter, as characterized by the 
Missouri Democrat on November 2y, 1861, 'Svas in 
the first place a Conditional Union man, afterwards 
an 'armed neutrality' man, and now is, as always, 
a 'conservative' citizen." Already the differences be- 
tween Conservatives and Radicals, in Missouri, were 
beginning to make themselves felt ; and in the politi- 
cal struggle which ensued the Governor and his Ad- 
jutant-General were found in opposite camps. Gov- 
ernor Fletcher tells of a meeting which took place 
at Barnum's Hotel, in St. Louis, in the course of 
which Governor Gamble charged Smith with being 
''too radical." To this the latter epigrammatically 
and forcibly replied : "If a man is right, he can not 

whether he ever would." The claim was still unpaid in 1873, as is 
evidenced by the following communication from General Sigel to 
the Quartermaster-General of the United States, under date of 
December 19 of that year: 

"I have the honor to acknowledge the papers in regard to G. R. 
Smith, late Adjutant-General of the State of Missouri, which papers 
are herewith returned. I am fully aware of having appointed the 
committee mentioned in the claim, and can certify to the fact that 
the troops under my command were encamped near Sedalia, that 
we were compelled to recur to requisitions for the troops and ani- 
mals, that on account of the inclemency of the weather boards 
had to be used for flooring the tents, and on account of the scarcity 
of fire-wood in the neighborhood of Sedalia fence rails had to be 
taken. I also can state that General Smith was known to be a 
very good Union man. For these reasons I consider the claim as 
assessed and corrected by the committee not exorbitant, and the 
claimant deserving of the consideration of the Government. In 
my statement of the claim I used the word 'damages' as a general 
term relating to what was taken from the farm and used for mili- 
tary purposes." 



RESIGNS OFFICE 331 

be too radical, and if he is wrong he can not be too 
conservative." 

The opportunity for General Smith's retirement 
came in the reorganization of the Missouri militia, 
which was effected as the result of a personal agree- 
ment between Governor Gamble and President Lin- 
coln. The nature of this agreement may be gathered 
from the following letter to General J. W. Noel, 
bearing date October 24; it is the last of the letters 
in the records of the Adjutant-General's office which 
bears General Smith's name, the signature alone 
being in his handwriting: 

I am instructed by Governor Gamble to say that 
no more commissions will issue to field officers un- 
der the call for six months' volunteers until he re- 
turns from Washington City, for which place he 
leaves to-day. His object is to get the President to 
accept the volunteers from Missouri for service in 
the State, for six months or during the war in Mis- 
souri, and to arm, clothe, subsist, and pay the troops 
raised for our defense. 

I have no doubt of his success ; in which event 
we shall at once be able to supply the urgent de- 
mands from every part of the State for arms, cloth- 
ing, etc., etc. 

We are using every effort in our power; but 
stripped as our State has been by those heretofore 
in power, we find it a very difficult matter to provide 
for a contingency demanding an enormous outlay 
of ready cash, which we have not got, nor the credit 
to procure. 

This is not intended to interfere with the enlist- 
ments made, but to request of Division Inspectors 
to explain the reasons for withholding commissions 



2,1,2 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

for the present. As soon as the Governor returns, 
a General Order will be issued and instruction given 
that will, I trust, at once fill up our regiments to the 
quota called for by the proclamation. 

Possibly it was the determination of Governor 
Gamble to limit the use of the Missouri forces to 
service within the State that crystallized General 
Smith's resolution to resign. Doubtless he felt that 
his immediate task was done, and that younger 
hands might now be found to carry on the work. At 
all events, in the St. Louis Nezvs of November 29, 
1 861, appeared a brief item, announcing without 
comment his resignation, and the appointment of 
Colonel Chester Harding as his successor ; and the 
next day his tenure of office came to an end. 

Our father was now at liberty to go home [writes 
Mrs. Smith] taking my sister and myself with 
him ; and there with heart, soul, and body, he 
still served his country. Our house was cheerfully 
and freely given up to his old friends as head- 
quarters for Union recruiting purposes. Colonel 
Philips, Mr. Henry Neal, and other persons equally 
enthusiastic in their patriotism, used our home in 
this way. Refugees also came in from unprotected 
places, and were more than welcome to this uncere- 
monious and unconstrained hospitality. Our father 
was in frequent demand by the military officers who 
were in charge of the place, and was often called 
upon to assist them in determining who were and 
who were not in open rebellion. 

For some time thereafter, aside from such in- 
formal assistance to the Union cause, General Smith 



FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES 333 

took no part in public affairs. His own private busi- 
ness fully occupied his attention. His plans for 
Sedalia were threatening to turn out badly. The 
town grew with considerable rapidity in the early 
months of 1861 ; but when hostilities had begun, and 
the inhabitants were exposed to depredations from 
rival forces, all building operations ceased. "Not a 
nail was driven," according to an old resident of the 
town, "after the first of May, 1861."^ Mr. Bouldin, 
at that time his partner in the venture, was a rebel 
sympathizer, and fled South when the Union troops 
occupied Sedalia; and the political differences be- 
tween him and General Smith led to endless business 
tangles and legal complications. General Smith also 
saw himself threatened with the loss of the whole of 
his interest in the new town by execution for debt. 
To purchase the land on which it was located he had 
borrowed some $5,000 in 1858 ; and when the un- 
settled state of affairs made it impossible to sell 
property or to raise money, he was confronted with 
a judgment of court for the principal and interest 
of his note, amounting to $6,937.33. The holder, 
Fayette McMullin, had espoused the Confederate 
side and cordially detested General Smith for his 
political views. No mercy was to be expected from 
him ; and it was only the stoppage of all processes 
of court in this section during the war, that delayed 
the settlement of the matter to the closing months 
of the conflict. 

In the summer of 1862, General Smith and his 

^ History of Pettis County, p. 409. 



334 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

daughters visited Ohio, where relatives Uved near 
Lebanon. Of a visit to the family of one of these, 
this account is given by Mrs. Smith : 

Coming from Missouri, it was naturally expected 
that we were Southern sympathizers, and the family 
speculated the night before we came what should be 
done with ''those rebels." Father had not been able 
to join us that day, but we were escorted courteously 
to the home, where a noon dinner awaited us. The 
families of the married sons living in the village, and 
the son and daughter of the household, with their 
venerable father and mother, made a considerable 
party for the introduction of these apparently diverse 
elements, North and South. We found them delight- 
ful people. The curiosity of our cousin, the Judge, 
hastened the disclosure of our respective politics. 
In a lull of the conversation I heard the Judge's 
question, ''Well, Cousin Sarah, is your father a 
Whig or a Democrat." "He is a Democrat," was 
the answer I heard. Thinking to correct her strange 
mistake, I vehemently said, "Why, Sister, he is not 
a Democrat, and never was." It was rather ludi- 
crous for these two "suspects" to be contradicting 
each other so flatly on a point so vitally important ; 
but my sister jocosely said, "Sister, you never would 
let me have any fun. It had not occurred to me be- 
fore that by any possible combination of circum- 
stances our father could be taken for a Democrat; 
and I wanted to see how it would feel." This led to 
explanation and more hilarity, and the visit passed 
pleasantly. 

In a week or two our father himself came ; he was 
about the same age as Judge Smith, and they delved 
into the past. Thrown together, after many years, 
from the two sides of a hitherto impassable gulf 
between the North and the South, they found they 



VISIT TO OHIO 335 

had been exactly together in all the important 
national issues ; although one cousin had been sur- 
rounded by Southern Democrats, who cherished a 
venomous hatred of the Northern "Yankee," and the 
other environed with the ideas of the North, they 
were equally bold and aggressive. Both had worked 
for the great cause wdiich the nation was defending 
in civil war ; and it w^as beautiful to see Western 
bluntness mingling with Eastern culture on this lofty 
ground of righteousness. Afterwards we visited 
other relations near by, who were Northern Demo- 
crats, reaching this family July 3d. The next day. In- 
dependence was to be celebrated at Camp Denison, 
and my father and sister accompanied the family. 
The special exercises being over, it became known 
that a gentleman from Alissouri was accidentally 
present. Supposing him to be a Democrat, there 
arose loud cries for a speech, at which General 
Smith arose, reluctantly, but spoke in his usual de- 
nunciatory language. It was soon manifest by the 
loud cheers of the Union soldiers, and the long faces 
of the Democrats, that the wrong passenger had 
been waked up. Like most of his speeches, this was 
impromptu, and was not preserved. But the news- 
papers caught at the incident, and it went round the 
press entitled, "The Vallandighamers caught a Tar- 
tar." 

The General's daughters remained in Ohio after 
his return to Missouri, and from letters which he 
wrote to them at this time some idea may be de- 
rived of the conditions by which he was surrounded 
and the opinions he held. August i, 1862, he wrote : 
"From the tone of your letters, I judge you want 
to come home. There is too much excitement and 
too much uncertainty here for you to come now. 



336 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

You are removed now from this unholy rebelHon, 
and I intend you to remain so, until you determine 
to come. I have no wish to have you here until the 
country is quiet, or at least more so than it is at 
present. There is considerable trouble in the ad- 
joining counties, none in this; there is too large a 
force here for that." And again, August 14: *T 
wrote you last night, and have thought to-day you 
might be uneasy about my letter. There was great 
apprehension last night that we would be attacked. 
Our force has increased, and I think there is now 
no danger. . . There is much excitement in 
Missouri now. The sympathizers with the rebellion 
and the scoundrels all over the State are doing 
everything they can in robbing and assassinating. 
I think, however, all will soon be right. Missouri 
will soon be one vast military camp, and it will be 
too hot for Southern sympathizers. God grant that 
the work of death could be staid! If I could stop 
it, I would. What a spectacle ! What a commentary 
upon civilization !" Three days later he wrote from 
St. Louis : "There has been and still was very great 
excitement at Sedalia, and indeed all over the west- 
ern part of Missouri, many persons expecting 
hourly an attack at Sedalia. Yesterday a force of 
eight hundred Federals was attacked twelve miles 
this side of Lexington, and completely routed, kill- 
ing and wounding two hundred. The rebel force 
was said to number from 2,500 to 4,000. Major 
Foster, of Philips' regiment, who was in command, 
was mortally wounded. Our Government seems to 



LETTERS 337 

be gradually waking up from a sleep that has well 
nigh destroyed us. I met to-day one regiment and a 
company of artillery going to Sedalia ; they will get 
there by 9 o'clock to-night. I understood this morn- 
ing, when I left, that several thousand men were 
marching from Kansas and Clinton to Sedalia, If 
so, there will be there to-night six or eight thousand 
troops. It is to be hoped they will overhaul the 
rebels who made the attack on Foster yesterday." 

General Smith's re-entrance into public affairs 
came in 1862. It was due in part to the dissatisfac- 
tion which may be traced in the foregoing letter with 
the prosecution of the war; but in still larger part 
it was due to the feeling that on the slavery ques- 
tion a more radical policy was needed than that 
which the Government adopted. 

At the very beginning of the conflict, Blair ex- 
perienced difficulty in getting the anti-slavery Re- 
publicans, who were mainly Germans, and had voted 
for Lincoln, to unite in the choice of delegates to 
the Convention with the Douglas and the Bell- 
Everett men, who supported the Union but were 
favorable or at most neutral on the subject of slav- 
ery. The differences between the two factions de- 
veloped rapidly as the months went bv. The ques- 
tion upon which they differed most, though there 
were many subsidiary points of difference, was that 
of slavery. The prominence given this question was 
partly the natural result of its importance, partly 
also it was due to special causes. One of the most 
noteworthy of the latter was Fremont's famous 



338 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

proclamation of August 31, 1861. In this, as com- 
mander of the mihtary Department of the West, he 
not only assumed "the administrative powers of the 
State," declared ''martial law throughout the State 
of Missouri," threatened all persons taken with 
arms in their hands within his lines with trial by 
court-martial and military execution ; but he also 
announced that "the property, real and personal, of 
all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take 
up arms against the United States, or who shall 
be directly proven to have taken an active part with 
their enemies in the field, is declared to be confis- 
cated to the public use, and their slaves, if any they 
have, are hereby declared free men."^ 

Although this proclamation was, within a fort- 
night, modified by President Lincoln's orders to 
conform to the policy enacted by Congress on Au- 
gust 6, 1 86 1, it was still of prime importance in con- 
solidating the radical and anti-slavery sentiment. 
The attitude of the Radicals in Missouri at this 
time is indicated in the following reminiscences of 
Governor Fletcher ; despite some slight errors of 
chronology, due doubtless to the lapse of a third of 
a century, the account is substantially correct : 

In December, 1861, the question arose among 
the loyalists in Missouri as to what we would do 
in regard to the slavery question. Up to that 
time we had only considered the question of the 
preservation of the Union. About that time the 
question was presented to us squarely. Would we 

^ Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, IV, pp. 416-17. 



EMANCIPATION FAVORED 339 

preserve the Union, or preserve slavery? We all 
recognized the fact that we had to give up one or 
the other. I made a speech at Union, in Franklin 
county. Mo., in which I said that "having arms in 
our hands we never intended to lay them down 
while slavery existed." General Halleck called me 
to account for the statement, and threatened to dis- 
miss me from the service for it. I found few men 
to stand by me in the position which I took. Fore- 
most among them was General George R. Smith. 
He was acting as Adjutant-General of Missouri at 
the time, under Governor Gamble, who was not yet 
ready to join in the decree of the abolition of slav- 
ery. General Halleck reprimanded me and Gov- 
ernor Gamble was incensed against me, but General 
George R. Smith came to my rescue and stood up 
boldly and said : *'We must give up slavery or give 
up the Union, and I am for the Union first and last 
and all the time." He came to me and said : "I will 
stand by you ; you are right." Frank Blair came to 
see me and said he would stand by me, and among 
others cited General George R. Smith as one we 
could rely upon. Charles D. Drake made a speech 
July 4, 1 86 1, in which he went so far as to proclaim 
that slavery was the cause of the war. General 
Smith told him that we had got way beyond that 
long ago. 

In the political campaign of 1862, General Smith 
came forward as a Radical candidate for the legis- 
lature, but was unsuccessful. His address announc- 
ing his candidacy was issued from St. Louis on 
October 30, 1862, and set forth his position in the 
following terms : 

Fellow Citizens : — I have been compelled to re- 
main here longer than I expected. I will not be able 



340 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

to get home in time for the election. I am a candidate 
to represent the county of Pettis in the lower branch 
of the State legislature. My past history you know. 
I have been from the beginning of this unholy re- 
bellion unconditionally for the Union, in favor of 
whipping the South into submission — unconditional 
submission — and am now in favor of prosecuting the 
war with all the vigor that can be infused into our 
army and especially into the Major-General. I am 
for showing no quarter to rebels and traitors in 
arms against the best government on earth. I en- 
dorse the President's Emancipation Proclamation, 
and am in favor of the acceptance of his proposition 
to the Border States, with compensation to loyal 
owners for their slaves. 

I appeal to Union men, and only to Union men, 
to stand by and uphold the Government. We have 
many men claiming to be Union. Every traitor in 
the country claims that he is par excellence a Union 
man, whilst he is cautiously feeling for the fifth rib 
to plunge the assassin's dagger into the vitals of the 
Government. I make no appeal to them, or to open, 
blatant traitors. 

To Union men let me say, If you are not now 
upon my platform you will be before this war ends. 
The longer you hesitate, the longer this war will 
last. If elected, I shall take great pleasure in ad- 
vising our antedeluvian Congressmen that straight- 
out Union men think traitors have no rights in a 
government they are trying to destroy, and shall 
urge them to act accordingly. They are either 
afraid they might make the traitors mad, excite 
them, and drive them to desperation, or they still 
have some lingering love for them. I have none. 
If you expect the rose-water policy to be pursued by 
me, as it is called, don't vote for me. I shall go 
energetically to work, if elected, to crush out treason 
and punish the traitors. 



RADICALS AND CONSERVATIVES 341 

The view to which the Conservatives clung, even 
so late as the close of 1862, is indicated by Governor 
Gamble's message of December 30, on emancipation. 
Prefacing his discussion with the remark that, as he 
had always lived in a slave State, he had no preju- 
dice against the institution, he proceeded to show 
why, at that time, Missouri should take steps for 
the emancipation of her slaves. In the first place, 
the material interests of the State would be pro- 
moted by the substitution of free labor for slave; 
secondly, the announcement of an emancipation res- 
olution would serve to extinguish the desire of the 
Confederate States to force Missouri into the Con- 
federacy; and third, the Rebellion had operated to 
diminish the number of slaves in Missouri anyway, 
and to render their tenure so insecure that even if 
the war were to end at that moment no considerable 
migration of slave-owners into the State could be 
expected. Therefore, in his view, some measure 
looking toward gradual emancipation — such as 
would serve to give the assurance that this would 
ultimately be a free State — ought to be adopted, 
with a view to the encouragement of immigration 
from the non-slaveholding States.^ 

By the beginning of 1863, both parties had come 
to the conviction that slavery must go; their only 
difference was as to ways and means. Acting on the 
recommendations of the Governor, the Conserva- 
tives wished to reconvene the existing Convention 
and have it initiate emancipation ; while the Radi- 

^ Journal of House of Representatives, Regular Session, 1862-3. 



342 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

cals advocated the election of an entirely new Con- 
vention. Measures embodying each policy failed in 
the legislature ; whereupon Governor Gamble took 
the step of calling the old Convention by proclama- 
tion to meet on June the 15th. The Conservative 
majority of the Convention, when it met, dealt with 
the subject in an eminently conservative way. "They 
indeed devised and adopted a scheme of emancipa- 
tion, but it was one which, in the new condition of 
public opinion, seemed vitiated with a spirit of self- 
ishness and an after-thought of evasion. The ordi- 
nance adopted provided in substance that slavery 
should cease in Missouri in the year 1870, and pro- 
hibited sales to non-residents after that date, pro- 
vided that all slaves so emancipated should remain 
in servitude, those over forty years of age during 
their lives, those under twelve until they became 
twenty-three, and all others until July 4, 1876. 
Thus the institution of slavery in Missouri would 
have remained untouched for the period of seven 
years, with of course the contingent possibility of a 
change of public sentiment and a repeal of the ordi- 
nance before any right to freedom could accrue. 
. . The period of postponement was long, and no 
provision was made to prevent slaves being sold out 
of the State in the interim. Another objectionable 
provision was that slave property was exempted 
from all further taxation. It was to be expected 
that such a dilatory and half-hearted measure as this 
would receive popular acceptance."^ 

* Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, VIII, p. 209. 



THE "CHARCOAL CONVENTION" 343 

The agitation was continued by the Radicals, and 
the movement assumed the form of an organized 
protest against the whole Conservative rule. The 
cold-blooded massacre, by Quantrell and his Mis- 
souri bushwhackers, on August 21, 1863, of some 
two hundred unoffending Union men at Lawrence, 
Kansas, and the destruction of the town, added fuel 
to the flames; and on September i, a mass conven- 
tion of Radicals, of which General Smith was a 
member, met at Jefferson City to denounce the Con- 
servative government and demand more radical 
measures. 

The opinions which Missourians formed of this 
meeting — the "Charcoal Convention" as it was 
styled, from the name by which the Radicals were 
sometimes called — differed according to their politi- 
cal point of view. By the Conservative organ of St. 
Louis it was characterized as a "meeting of con- 
spirators against the peace of this State; of those 
who propose to put out of office, by force, the pres- 
ent State government and to improvise a new gov- 
ernment on its ruins ; of those who are not satisfied 
with the Ordinance of Emancipation, or rather with 
that amendment of the Constitution which wipes out 
slavery in this State in less time than it was ever 
accomplished in any other State of the Union; of 
that class who propose radical change in this Mili- 
tary Department, — and failing that, to denounce the 
President and his Cabinet for refusing to carry out 
their insane and treasonable projects."^ The Radi- 

^ St. Louis Republican, September i, 1863. 



344 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

cal organ, on the other hand, viewed it as *'the most 
successful and most important poHtical convention 
ever held in the State." **The convention derives 
its importance," said this sheet, "from the position 
which it has taken upon the questions of the day. 
The ground it has seen fit to occupy will command 
at once the national attention and respect. For the 
first time in the history of the Nation a great party 
has adopted a platform of unconditional freedom as 
the basis of a thorough State organization in a slave 
State. The party which has done this holds the 
destinies of Missouri in its hands." ^ 

In the organization of the convention, General 
Smith was chosen one of eighteen vice-presidents. 
At the evening meeting, September i, he was the 
chief speaker, and made a speech which the opposi- 
tion paper characterized as "radical enough in all 
conscience." It adds : "He said he didn't care if 
the Copperheads lost all their slaves, and he had got 
to that point where he didn't care much if his Union 
friends lost theirs also." ^ 

At the meeting next morning, General Smith was 
called to take the chair. Before taking his seat he 
made a second speech, in which he dealt with the 
efforts that had been made to secure a change of 
policy in Missouri from the Administration at Wash- 
ington. Individual Radicals, and small committees, 
he said, had been able to do nothing because they 
were regarded as a mere faction. For his part he 

^Missouri Democrat, September 3 and 4, 1863. 
2 St. Louis Republican, September 2, 1863. 



RADICAL RESOLUTIONS 345 

thought there were enough true Union men in 
every county to pay the expenses of one of their 
number to Washington; accordingly, he urged the 
appointment of a committee to consist of one dele- 
gate from each county, to go to Washington and lay 
their grievances before the President, proving by 
their numbers that they were not a mere faction. 
This proposition was received with enthusiasm, and 
the committee, with General Smith as one of its 
members, was appointed, and in due time made the 
trip. 

The platform and resolutions adopted by the con- 
vention may be found in the Missouri Democrat for 
September 3. The members of the convention 
styled themselves "the loyal people of Missouri in 
mass convention assembled;" and after resolving 
that they sustain the Government in a vigorous 
prosecution of the war to a final completion, they 
declared : 

2. That we deprecate and denounce the military 
poUcy pursued in this State, and the delegation by 
the General Government of military powers to a pro- 
visional State organization, the whole tendency of 
which is to throw back our people under the control 
of pro-slavery and reactionary influences, to paralyze 
the Federal power in suppressing the rebellion, and 
to prolong a reign of terror throughout large sec- 
tions of the State, and to extend aid and comfort 
to those who are meditating hostility to the national 
authority in other States. 

3. That we do most heartily indorse the princi- 
ples first enunciated by General Fremont in his 
proclamation of freedom of August 31, 1861, and 



346 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

afterwards sanctioned and embodied in the Presi- 
dent's proclamation of September 22, 1862, and 
January i, 1863 ; that the salvation of the Union de- 
mands the prompt execution of said proclamation in 
spirit and in letter ; that in all forthcoming struggles 
we shall recognize no man as our standard-bearer 
who is not pledged emphatically for said, principles ; 
and that those liberated under such proclamations 
can not be reduced to slavery again, and that we will 
not sustain any reorganization of the country that 
does not embody the freedom principles therein con- 
tained. ... 

5. That we arraign the provisional government 
as untrue to the loyal people of this State : First, 
as having usurped power and exercised it for sinis- 
ter ends. Second, as having prostituted an assumed 
independent military power to the purpose of main- 
taining policies antagonistic to the General Gov- 
ernment and an institution hostile to the welfare of 
the State. Third, as having imprisoned loyal men 
for expressing sentiments in opposition to the State 
Government. Fourth, as having issued orders dis- 
arming the loyal population in disturbed districts, 
and having tolerated avowed and enrolled disloyal- 
ists everywhere. Fifth, as having issued orders in 
distinct violation of the articles of war, in conflict 
with the orders of the War Department, and having 
refused to co-operate with the General Government, 
in cases of direct invasion, by withdrawing its 
troops from the service. Sixth, as having refused 
to permit enlistments into the United States volun- 
teer forces by disqualifying orders. Seventh, as 
having used persistent efforts to have removed from 
command officers displaying energetic action in the 
suppression of the rebellion, and to have suspended 
all orders levying assessments against disloyalists, 
finally refusing to co-operate in their execution. 



RADICAL RESOLUTIONS 347 

Eighth, as having enrolled, commissioned, and 
brought into active service known and avowed dis- 
loyalists. Ninth, as having issued orders in viola- 
tion of the Constitution and the laws. 

6. That we demand a policy of immediate eman- 
cipation in Missouri, because it is necessary not only 
to the financial condition of the State and the prose- 
cution of its industrial enterprises and material 
improvements, but especially because it is essential 
to the security of the lives of our citizens, the peace 
of our homes, and the quiet of our communities. 

7. That we are in favor of a constitutional enact- 
ment for the disfranchisement of all those who have 
taken up arms or levied war against the Govern- 
ment, or adhered to the enemies thereof in the pres- 
ent rebellion ; that to allow them the free and 
unrestricted use of the ballot-box would be making 
them more dangerous than they were in the field, 
and would tend directly to the subversion and de- 
struction of the Government. 

8. That we demand of our General Assembly to 
call a Convention of the people, to take into con- 
sideration the grievances under which the State 
now labors, and to redress the wrongs which have 
been inflicted upon it by usurped authority; and 
that if our General Assembly shall refuse so to do, 
we will take such measures as will elicit the voice 
and action of the people of this State. 

9. That Conventions are in the nature of sover- 
eign remedies, applied by the people for the redress 
of grievances ; that they are extra-constitutional, 
and while the custom has been to signify the will 
of the people for such call through their General 
Assembly, yet in the default of action on the part 
of the General Assembly, or in case of their refusal 
to obey instructions, nothing can derogate from the 
right of the people to act in their capacity. 



348 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Supplementary resolutions were adopted, among 
others, calling upon Governor Gamble and Lieuten- 
ant-Governor Hall to vacate their positions ; urging 
the President to remove General Schofield, then in 
command of the Department; and expressing hor- 
ror at "the late atrocious massacre of innocent and 
unoffending Union men at Lawrence." 

These resolutions sufficiently indicate the views 
and the demands with which the committee ap- 
pointed by the convention, seventy in number, went 
to Washington to see the President. A delegation 
from Kansas, with much the same objects, joined 
the Missouri delegation, and the two were given a 
joint audience by President Lincoln on September 
30, 1863. The chairman of the committee, Hon. 
Charles D. Drake, of St. Louis, read to the Presi- 
dent their long, studied address ; and after the 
President had given a reply to some of the points 
presented, an informal discussion took place in 
which various members of the committee expressed 
their views. Addresses supplementary to that of 
September 30 were presented by the committee on 
October 3 ; and on the 5th, President Lincoln made 
his final reply. The demand that at elections per- 
sons might not be allowed to vote who were not 
entitled by law so to do, was conceded ; but the 
requests for the removal of General Schofield, and 
the substitution of National forces for the Missouri 
Enrolled Militia, were refused. The President ad- 
mitted the suffering and wrong done to the Union 



LINCOLN'S ATTITUDE 349 

men, but failed to see that General Schofield or the 
Enrolled Militia were responsible. 

The whole can be explained [he said] on a more 
charitable and, as I think, a more rational hypothe- 
sis. We are in civil war. In such cases there is al- 
ways a main question ; but in this case that question 
is a perplexing compound — Union and Slavery. It 
thus becomes a question not of two sides merely, 
but of at least four sides, even among those who 
are for the Union, saying nothing of those who are 
against it. Thus, those who are for the Union with, 
but not zvithout, slavery, — those for it, ivithout, but 
not zvith, — those for it zi'ith or without, but prefer 
it with, — and those for it with or without, but pre- 
fer it without. Among these again is a subdivision 
of those who are for gradual but not for immediate, 
and those who are for immediate, but not for grad- 
ual extinction of slavery. It is easy to conceive that 
all these shades of opinion, and even more, may be 
sincerely entertained by honest and truthful men. 
Yet, all being for the Union, by reason of these dif- 
ferences each will prefer a different way of sus- 
taining the Union. At once sincerity is questioned, 
and motives are assailed. Actual war coming, blood 
grows hot, and blood is spilled. Thought is forced 
from old channels into confusion. Deception breeds 
and thrives. Confidence dies and universal sus- 
picion reigns. Each man feels an impulse to kill 
his neighbor, lest he be first killed by him. Revenge 
and retaliation follow. And all this, as before said, 
may be among honest men only. But this is not all. 
Every foul bird comes abroad and every dirty rep- 
tile rises up. These add crime to confusion. Strong 
measures deemed indispensable, but harsh at best, 
such men make worse by maladministration. Mur- 
ders for old grudges, and murders for pelf, proceed 



350 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

under any cloak that will best cover for the occa- 
sion. These causes amply account for what has 
occurred in Missouri, without ascribing it to the 
weakness or wickedness of any general. . . 

I concur in the propriety of your request in re- 
gard to elections, and have, as you see, directed 
General Schofield accordingly. I do not feel justi- 
fied to enter upon the broad field vou present in re- 
gard to the political differences between Radicals 
and Conservatives. From time to time I have done 
and said what appeared to me proper to do and say. 
The public knows it all. It obliges nobody to follow 
me, and I trust it obliges me to follow nobody. The 
Radicals and Conservatives each agree with me in 
some things and disagree in others. I could wish 
both to agree with me in all things ; for then they 
would agree with each other, and would be too 
strong for any foe from any quarter. They, how- 
ever, choose to do otherwise, and I do not question 
their right. I, too, shall do what seems to be my 
duty. I hold whoever commands in Missouri, or 
elsewhere, responsible to me, and not to either Radi- 
cals or Conservatives. It is my duty to hear all ; 
but at last I must, within my sphere, judge what 
to do and what to forbear.^ 

Nowhere, perhaps, is Lincoln more clearly re- 
vealed, in the language of Lowell, as 

"The kindly-earnest, brave, forseeing man, 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame." 

He was obliged to refuse the demands of these Rad- 
icals, and to let them know that the reins of mastery 
lay in his hands. But his own sympathies were with 

^ Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, VIII, p. 22. 



RADICAL SUCCESSES 351 

them, because of the integrity and sincerity of their 
poHtical views. Some weeks later, as recorded by 
his secretary, Mr. Hay, he gave utterance to a re- 
mark which may be accepted as the most fitting 
characterization of this party. "I beheve after all," 
he said, "those Missouri Radicals will carry their 
State, and I do not object to it. They are nearer to 
me than the other side in thought and sentiment, 
though bitterly hostile personally. They are the 
unhandiest fellows in the world to deal with; but 
after all, their faces are set Zionward."^ 

President Lincoln's forecast of the political re- 
sults in Missouri proved correct. At the election 
held November 3, 1863, the Radicals made some 
gains and won a slight victory, the soldiers' vote 
being cast almost unanimously for their ticket. In 
January, 1864, occurred the death of Governor 
Gamble, the most conspicuous leader of the Con- 
servatives. This materially weakened the party, and 
as the Presidential election of that year came on, 
the Conservatives as an organization practically 
went to pieces. The voters of Democratic ante- 
cedents returned to the Democratic fold, and sup- 
ported McClellan, on the Chicago platform which 
declared the war a failure ; while those of Whig and 
Republican origin, little by little fused with the 
Radicals. The hostility of the latter to Lincoln 
proved more a matter which concerned the leaders 
than the rank and file ; and despite the opposition of 
some German Fremonters, Lincoln carried the State 

^ Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, VIII, p. 220. 



352 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

by 40,000 majority. At this election, for the first 
time since the beginning of the war, State officers 
were chosen ; and the entire Radical ticket, with 
Governor Thomas C. Fletcher at its head, was 
elected by a similar vote. In the elections to the 
General Assembly, the Radicals secured a majority 
of the Senate, and three-fourths of the lower house. 
And finally it was decided that a new Constitutional 
Convention be called, whose first action should be to 
pass an immediate emancipation ordinance; and of 
the delegates chosen to this body, three-fourths 
were taken from the Radical party. 

General Smith was one of the electors on the Lin- 
coln ticket at this election, and took an active part 
in the canvass. He was also chosen to a seat for 
the Sixteenth district in the State Senate. In the 
organization of that body his long and unswerving 
devotion to Radical Union views procured for him 
the unanimous election as president pro tern.; he 
was also appointed to the committees on claims, 
State lands, and county records, and was made 
chairman of the committee on elections. His rela- 
tions with Governor Fletcher were intimate and 
cordial. "Circumstances placed me in the most 
prominent position at that time in Missouri," wrote 
the latter in after days, "and upon the judgment, 
discretion and heroic patriotism of General George 
R. Smith, I reHed as much as upon that of any 
other man in Missouri." "When the days of recon- 
struction came," he continues in another place, 
"among those with whom I conferred was General 



IN THE STATE SENATE 353 

Smith ; and he said to me : 'Tell the President that 
we will do our own reconstruction.' I so told Presi- 
dent Lincoln, and we did our own reconstruction." 

On January 24, 1865, General Smith introduced 
into the Senate the concurrent resolution which fol- 
lows, the object of which was to vacate certain civil 
and military offices in the State, the holders of which 
were lukewarm in the support of the war : 



Whereas, The loyal people of this State, on the 
8th day of November last, by more than forty thou- 
sand majority, emphatically declared in favor of the 
unity of these United States, and a speedy suppres- 
sion of this unholy war, begun and now carried on 
by Southern traitors and Northern sympathizers ; 

And zL'hereas, A large number of this latter class 
are known to occupy important civil as well as mili- 
tary offices in this State ; therefore. 

Be it resolved, By the Senate, the House of Rep- 
resentatives concurring therein. That the Constitu- 
tional Convention now in session in the city of St. 
Louis be requested to pass an ordinance vacating all 
the civil offices of this State, the incumbents of 
which were elected or appointed previous to the 8th 
day of November last, and that his Excellency, the 
Governor of the State, is hereby respectfully re- 
quested to have dismissed from any of the military 
offices of this State all persons who, in any manner, 
sympathized with the South in 1861, so that the 
rights of Union men may be secured in this Gov- 
ernment. 



The resolution was referred to the Committee on 
Judiciary, and was reported February 4, with the 



354 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

recommendation that it do not pass. On the loth 
the resolution was called up by General Smith, who 
advocated its passage in "a lengthy and argumenta- 
tive speech." The address which he delivered at 
this time was published in pamphlet form, after 
undergoing some revision ; and from this, the fol- 
lowing extracts are taken : 

I have not introduced this resolution to advance 
a single personal claim or to manufacture one 
jot of political capital. My position, Mr. Presi- 
dent, as far as I am known, is and always has been 
well understood ; I have nothing to make and noth- 
ing to lose by the present avowal of my opinions. 
So long and so intimately have I been connected 
with the Radical party, that its glory is in part mine, 
and no ungrateful hand could, if it would, wrench 
it from me ; nor can I evade its responsibilities. But 
if ever its day of shame shall come — and come it 
may — I shall enter into the shadow of its red mantle 
without a murmur. 

One principle, Mr. President, and one alone, 
prompts me ; that, sir, is to correct an outrage, — • 
such an outrage as every Union man in Missouri 
will bear me out in saying has been and is to-day 
a disgrace — a burning shame — a damning outrage 
— upon the Union party, most reluctantly and griev- 
ously borne by us ever since this unholy and iniqui- 
tous war was forced upon our Government by a 
bloated and effete aristocracy. 

Go where you may, throughout this State — and 
I understand the same facts exist in every other 
State — and you will find in all the departments of 
Government, either civil or military, in many, very 
many — perhaps a majority — of the offices, incum- 
bents, clerks, or employes, who were known rebels 



SPEECH 355 

or rebel sympathizers in 1861, and who are now 
only ostensibly loyal through self-interest. . . . 
And now, Mr. President, I appeal to Senators upon 
this floor — I implore them — to give this subject their 
serious consideration. Shall this condition of things 
longer exist, without an effort at reform ? I am not 
bold in declaring, what is on the lips of every truly 
loyal man, that this class of officials cast the weight 
of their office and their personal influence on the 
side of treason. Yielding obedience to the letter of 
law, they violate its spirit. . . 

Do they never declare for the rebellion? Equally 
reticent are they in behalf of our Government. Do 
they not build bonfires over rebel successes? They 
are alike stoical when a Union victory electrifies the 
heart of the nation. Does our Government find it 
necessary to encroach upon the ancient and hereto- 
fore recognized rights of the South (rights no 
longer, however) ? With what "holy horror" do 
these hypocritical pharisees roll their eyes Heaven- 
ward, and shudder for the fate of the blessed "chiv- 
alry !" But when civilization is outraged, as at Fort 
Pillow, Lawrence, and Centralia, and when the 
scalping knife of the guerilla is seen all over our 
devoted State, — when flags are at half mast, and a 
black pall is upon our land, and we miss our Lyons, 
our Bakers, our McPhersons, and our thousands of 
other noble dead ; what one of these galvanized 
Union men was ever known to recoil from such 
barbarism, or propose a monument to the departed 
great? Be not deceived. Remember Price's last 
raid. Their hearts are deceitful above all else, and 
desperately wicked. 

Mr. President, during the continuance of this re- 
bellion men of this stripe can not be — ought not to 
be — trusted in office. No one can faithfully serve 
two masters at the same time, even though both be 



356 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

after the manner of his liking; much less can he 
love the one and serve the other. 

Sir, the duty of every American citizen is at war 
with neutrality toward this rebellion, and obliges 
him to lend the energies of his heart and hand to 
its suppression. He must be more than as a stranger 
to its interests ; he must be its active enemy. This is 
the service every citizen owes his Government ; and 
it is absolutely impossible and incompatible with a 
single emotion of love or sympathy for treason. 
Every officer under our Government is in duty 
"bound to wield all the power in his hands against 
the traitors who are striving to blot out our nation- 
ality. . . 

Grant, however, that thus burdened we can still 
outride the storm. Is it wise? Is it just? These 
are important questions that the members of this 
body can not consider too gravely. Is not rebellion, 
in a bad cause against a humane Government, a 
serious crime? Can a nation let crime go unpun- 
ished with impunity? Is disloyalty a virtue, with a 
virtuous claim upon the patronage of the Govern- 
ment against which it has raised the fratricidal 
hand ? Can any Government afford to disregard de- 
voted loyalty and offer a premium for treason ? . . 

Sir, there is one fact known to us all that makes 
the practice against which this resolution militates 
especially obnoxious. It is this : Throughout our 
whole State there are thousands of men whose loy- 
alty breathes the spirit of martyrdom, whom this 
war has reduced to penury and unspeakable suffer- 
ing, and whose wives and daughters eke out a 
miserable existence, supporting themselves by 
drudgeries hitherto unknown to them. Let your 
eyes sweep over our prairies, our valleys, and our 
hills, and see the desolated condition of our State ; 
behold the thousands of solitary chimneys, charred 



SPEECH 357 

monuments testifying in their mournful solitude 
that here was once the abode of a family who lived 
in comfort, perhaps in affluence, guiltless of treason, 
therefore broken up, scattered, beggared — nay 
more, their fathers, husbands, and sons, in many 
cases, murdered; their bones lie unburied upon the 
soil they loved so well ; their crime was devotion to 
the Government their fathers bequeathed them. 

Let us deal thoughtfully and kindly with those 
who remain. Go west and southwest of my home, 
through what may be appropriately termed the Val- 
ley of Death. Occasionally may be seen a farm- 
house still standing, the farm unmolested, the family 
still in peace. Nine cases out of ten, that family are 
rebels — a father or son, perhaps, in the rebel army. 
And now, sir, I appeal to the good sense of this 
legislature in behalf of these long oppressed, down 
trodden, suffering loyalists. Through refining fires 
and sore trials of revolution they have remained 
true and faithful to this glorious Union. Is it right 
that they should go needy while the wealth of the 
Government is lavished by thousands, nay millions, 
upon those who were armed rebels or rebel sympa- 
thizers in 1 86 1, and who are now only loyal so far 
as self-interest and oaths constrain them ? If wrong 
(and I honestly believe we are), in the name of 
God who has so long scourged us for our sins, let 
us do right; let patriots be rewarded and traitors 
punished. 

On the 8th day of last November the Radical 
Union party took possession of this State and en- 
tered upon its control. Its destiny, for weal or woe, 
is in our keeping. Two of the departments of the 
Government are now under the control of the Radi- 
cal party. As one of that party, I am free to declare 
that, as we are to be responsible for its administra- 
tion, that administration should be in its own hands. 



358 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

I am aware that in ordinary times this could not be ; 
but now it so turns out that the people, in Conven- 
tion assembled, have the power to do all that is 
necessary for the safety and prosperity of the State. 
I would not have the offices referred to in the reso- 
lution now before us vacated for my party's sake, 
except to secure the good of this great State. I be- 
lieve in no other way can we so effectually protect 
our citizens and secure harmony in all the depart- 
ments of State. I believe we owe it, in justice, to 
the long-suffering Unionists of the land ; I believe 
it richly merited by those upon whom it may fall. 
With traitors I have no fellowship, and desire none. 
I know no grades in loyalty. "He who is not for us 
is against us ;" and here, Mr. President, I do most 
solemnly declare, that so far as my acts as a legisla- 
tor are concerned, I will vote for no bill or resolu- 
tion that accords to traitors or sympathizers with 
treason equality with loyalists. They may return 
to some of the privileges of citizenship, but must 
be content with an humble position. They have, by 
their own act, forfeited every right once enjoyed 
in our Government, and no act of mine shall restore 
them again to the proud title of American citizens. 
I may forgive the erring beardless boys, not fully 
citizens ere they became traitors, but not now ; no, 
sir, not now. Born and educated as I was, in what 
has been known in common parlance as "the South," 
and all my associations and teachings "South" — 
never having so much as visited a free State previ- 
ous to this rebellion — I know well how adroitly, 
cunningly, and designedly the poison of sectional 
prejudice has been instilled into the minds of our 
youth. Therefore it is that I can make some allow- 
ance for them ; but not yet. They must do penance 
for a season, that they may fully appreciate the 
proud declaration, "I am an American citizen." 



SPEECH 359 

Mr. President, in further justification of the reso- 
lution under consideration, let me very briefly refer 
to some of the results of this unholy war. 

In the spring of 1861, just previous to the out- 
break of this rebellion, our State was never in so 
prosperous a condition. Her wealth was founded 
upon the most productive agriculture ; her com- 
merce was daily enlarging its dominions ; her manu- 
factures were advancing to place and influence ; her 
mountains of iron, her beds of other minerals and 
coal, enough to supply the demands of the whole 
world, were being rapidly developed; her railroads 
progressing rapidly to completion ; her universities, 
colleges, seminaries, and schools were filled with 
the youth of the country ; her churches, for the wor- 
ship of the only true and living God, were increas- 
ing in numbers and influence ; every branch of in- 
dustry met a profitable and rich reward. In a word, 
all was peace, contentment, and happiness. But in 
an evil hour, an ambitious and unscrupulous Gov- 
ernor issued his proclamation for fifty thousand 
troops to make war against the General Govern- 
ment. No grievance was complained of, — none 
could be specified. The citizens of Missouri had re- 
ceived from that Government nothing but kindness ; 
they had abundant cause to be grateful, — none 
whatever for enmity. But O, ingratitude ! stronger 
than traitors' arms. I need not hesitate to tell the 
truth ; the world knows our dishonor. With pain 
and mortification we must confess that thousands of 
our citizens responded to the call of the arch-traitor, 
and locked bayonets in deadly strife with those who, 
for their country, "dared to do and die." 

From thence dates the work of death and devasta- 
tion. Union men were tortured and shot in the pres- 
ence of their wives and children. Many of us were 
compelled to leave our homes and seek safety among 



36o LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

strangers for our lives, our only crime being devo- 
tion to that Union our fathers had bequeathed *'as 
a rich legacy unto their issue." I will not attempt to 
depict, if I could, the horrors that ensued and are 
still perpetrated upon Union men. You all know 
them. Did every wrong have a tongue, the melan- 
choly story of violence and blood, and "bitter, burn- 
ing wrongs we have in our hearts' cells shut up," 
must still go unrelated. Now, as the bloody tragedv 
seems drawing to a close, what is the condition of 
our State, so prosperous when first her peace was 
broken by the clangor of arms? Our people have 
been wantonly murdered, robbed, and driven from 
the State ; our agricultural, mechanical, commercial, 
and mineral interests lie prostrate ; our railroads 
torn up, bridges burned, and we unable to re-build 
them; our universities, colleges, and schools aban- 
doned and ruined; our children uneducated and 
ignorant ; our asylums for the unfortunate of our 
race despoiled, robbed, and the unfortunates multi- 
plied; our churches are become hospitals for the 
sick and wounded of this war, and we have no more 
Sabbaths ; our people are ruined by taxation, and 
the cry for bread is heard in our land ; the farmer 
is still shot down at his plow, and armies are still 
eating out our substance. 

Mr. President, this is but a glimpse of the long 
train of evils entailed upon our people by this most 
foul and unnatural rebellion, of an unprincipled set 
of slaveholders and their minions, to extend the 
area of human slavery. They have dishonored the 
hitherto unsullied name of America ; they have 
crushed the prosperity of the commonwealth; they 
have plunged millions of honest people into the 
depths of earthly miseries, and cast upon our people, 
for generations to come, the burden of oppressive 
taxation ? And why, sir, have they done these 



SPEECH 361 

things? Only that the strong might oppress the 
weak; only that one race of common humanity 
might break in pieces the image of God in another, 
and crush out the virtue of the hearts of millions of 
their fellow creatures. Does not the blood of our 
murdered brothers cry to us for vengeance? And is 
not vengeance meet when mercy rewards crime? 
Does not posterity call to us from the bosom of the 
future to guard them against a curse like ours, by 
affixing a penalty to treason that shall for all time 
be a terror to traitors? Is it urged that those at 
whom this resolution is directed were but slightly 
hostile, and but partially culpable? I answer, the 
punishment proposed is exceedingly light, and far 
less than they deserve. It only requires them to de- 
scend from places they hold against the will of the 
people, as expressed by an overwhelming popular 
verdict at the last election, and return to more hum- 
ble spheres, in atonement for ungenerous treatment 
of misplaced confidence and betrayal of their coun- 
try. 

I believe the resolution a judicious one, and that 
the great mass of the Union party of Missouri de- 
sire its passage. I urge upon their representatives 
here not to disappoint them, but by their unanimous 
approval, apply to the State Convention, and to his 
Excellency, the Governor, to execute the behest it 
embodies. I have said what I have in its favor from 
no personal motive ; although, in common with 
others, I have felt the heavy hand of oppression. 
Not my own wrongs, but the wrongs of my coun- 
trymen and my country constitute my sole apology 
for so long occupying the time of the Senate. . .^ 

In his advocacy of the above resolution, General 

^ speech of Gen. Geo. R. Smith, delivered in the Missouri State 
Senate on the lOth of February, 1865. (St. Louis, 1865; 10 pages.) 



362 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Smith was joined by half a dozen other Senators, 
who spoke in favor of its spirit ; but the matter was 
finally disposed of by a vote, 19 to 9, to lay the reso- 
lution on the table. The matter was therefore left 
to the Convention without instruction. 

The final and complete abolition of slavery in the 
State of Missouri came while General Smith was a 
member of this Assembly. The Constitutional Con- 
vention which had been voted at the November elec- 
tion, 1864, met in St. Louis on January 5, 1865 ; 
and on the nth the expected ordinance of emanci- 
pation was passed in the following form : 

Be it ordained by the People of the State of Mis- 
souri in Convention assembled, That hereafter in 
this State there shall be neither slavery nor invol- 
untary servitude, except in punishment of crime 
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; 
and all persons held to service or labor as slaves, 
are hereby declared free. 

This ordinance was immediately telegraphed to 
Governor Fletcher at Jefferson City; and on the 
same day he transmitted to the Senate his proclama- 
tion embodying and enforcing it. An outburst of 
the wildest enthusiasm followed. The celebration 
lasted far into the night. "Every window of the 
Capitol was illuminated," says one report, "and the 
very hills of Jefferson were made to lift up their 
heads and rejoice." Meetings were held at which 
speeches were made by State Senators and others, 
and "John Brown" was sung, as the report states, 
amid immense applause.^ 

^Annual Cyclopedia, for 1864, p. 554. 



SLAVERY ABOLISHED 363 

General Smith's service did not extend beyond 
the first session of this Assembly. The financial 
difficulties which had sprung up about him as a re- 
sult of the war seemed to be growing worse. His 
income was small, while his expenses were very 
heavy, the taxes alone on his property in Sedalia 
amounting to about $10,000 a year. Accordingly, 
when the post of Assistant United States Assessor 
was offered him, he thought it best to accept. As a 
result, a resolution vacating his seat was introduced 
into the Senate early in November, 1865 ; and on 
November 23 the resolution was passed, the Gov- 
ernor was asked to issue the writ for an election to 
the vacant seat, and a successor to General Smith 
in the office of president pro tern, of the Senate was 
soon chosen. With this act his legislative career 
definitely closed. 

In reviewing General Smith's course in the trying 
period from 1861 to 1865, no more fitting summary 
can be found than that given in a letter from Gov- 
ernor Fletcher, bearing date May 25, 1892: "He 
was one of the substantial men of Central Missouri 
who gave his influence to the promotion of every 
cause that had a tendency to the development of the 
resources, and the upbuilding of every enterprise 
for the promotion of the higher and better destiny, 
of the State. When the war came he exhibited a 
patriotism that made us all honor and love him. 
In the dark hours when we were organizing our 
forces under General Lyon, he came to us earnest 
and helpful, and cheered us on and aided us in every 



364 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

way possible. When we drove Claib. Jackson out 
of the State, and saved Missouri from being chained 
to the car wheel of nullification, secession, and re- 
bellion, he stood beside us a stalwart and fearless 
Unionist. And when the Convention chose another 
Governor, he stood beside him, and accepted the po- 
sition of Adjutant-General of the State, and largely 
contributed to bring order and system out of the 
chaos which existed at the time. Later on his great- 
est service was in the Senate, when the closing 
scenes of the war came and the days of reconstruc- 
tion were upon us ; when we required cool and de- 
liberate judgment, and the nerve that comes from 
a high intellectual comprehension of the condition 
of affairs and a firm resolve to dare and do right. 
. . His hatred of rebellion and disunion men and 
measures was intense, but his charity for his fellow 
man in distress and his kind and forgiving nature 
made him most merciful to a fallen foe ; and we 
loved him not less for his goodness of heart than 
for his broad patriotism." 



CHAPTER XIII 

YEARS OF TRIUMPH, AND LIFE's CLOSE 
(1866— 1879) 

Radical resolutions, 1866 — Removed from office by Presi- 
dent Johnson — Settlement of an old financial difficulty — 
Arbitration of differences with D. W. Bouldin — Suit 
concerning title to Sedalia lands — Political feeling after 
the war — The negro boy and the Sunday-school — Dr. 
William Watson on the issue of the war — State politics, 
1865-70 — General Smith's course — Liberal-Republican 
candidate for Congress, 1870 — Candidate for the legisla- 
ture, 1872 — Mayor of Sedalia, 1864; alderman, 1874-75 — 
Growth of Sedalia, 1861-79; its influence in Missouri — 
Last days and death of General Smith — Character and 
personality — His kindliness, coupled with vehemence of 
expression — His sense of humor — His religious views — 
His family life — His political character — Sedalia's tribute' 
to his memory. 

In the contest over reconstruction, which Presi- 
dent Johnson provoked after Lincoln's assassina- 
tion, General Smith as a Radical sided with Con- 
gress. He was an officeholder under Johnson, but he 
did not allow that fact to hamper the free expression 
of his opinions. Among his papers is preserved the 
draft of a series of resolutions adopted at a meeting 
in August or September, 1866, of which he was 
probably the presiding officer. It should be said, to 

365 



366 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

understand the occasion, that the Constitution adopt- 
ed by the Missouri Convention in 1865 contained 
such rigid quahfications for the suffrage that some 
20,000 Southern sympathizers were disfranchised 
and deprived of civil rights ; that the return of tur- 
bulent spirits to Missouri after the war led to the 
organization of several bands of marauders who 
continued the bushwhacking which had so dis- 
tressed the State during war-times; and that the 
Convention at New Orleans, to which reference is 
made, was the reconvened Louisiana Convention of 
1864, summoned to meet July 30, 1866. Its leaders, 
according to General Sheridan, the commander of 
that Department, were "political agitators and revo- 
lutionary men, and the action of the Convention was 
liable to produce breaches of the peace ;" but the 
suppression of it by the mayor and police "with 
fire-arms, clubs, and knives" was "in a manner so 
unnecessary and atrocious as to compel [him] to 
say that it was murder." In these circumstances it 
is not surprising to learn that "political feeling 
never ran higher in Missouri," than in the campaign 
in the fall of 1866.^ This intensity of feeling may 
easily be seen in the resolutions which follow : 

Whereas, in the wisdom of God, traitors were 
permitted to crown the crime of treason with the 
infamy of assassination, whereby the defenders of 
liberty and humanity were deprived of their honored 
and trusted leader, and the enemies of Freedom and 
equal human rights were supplied in the person of 

^Annual Cyclopedia, for 1866, under "Louisiana" and "Missouri." 



RADICAL RESOLUTIONS 367 

Andrew Johnson with a sympathizing friend and 
leader; and whereas, the fall of Abraham Lincoln 
and the elevation of Andrew Johnson to power have 
encouraged the spirit of treason and forced the peo- 
ple into a new contest to secure the great results of 
the late war; therefore, 

Resolved, (i) That in the great Union party of 
the country, whose counsels safely guided the Na- 
tion through the late conflict of arms and who con- 
quered the war power of the Rebellion, we recog- 
nize the party whose principles alone can be relied 
upon with safety in the reconstruction of the re- 
bellious States. 

Resolved, (2) That we cordially endorse the 
policy of Congress with reference to the restoration 
of the State Governments destroyed by the Rebel- 
lion ; that we fully approve of the Amendment to 
the Constitution of the United States submitted for 
ratification to the people by the XXXIX Congress. 

Resolved, (3) That we heartily approve the stand 
taken by our Representative (Colonel McClurg) in 
Congress in demanding equal justice for the colored 
soldier ; that men who have proved true in camp, on 
picket, and on the field of battle will do to trust at 
the polls ; that traitors have no right to vote while 
loyal citizens are excluded. 

Resolved, (4) That the statesmanship of Andrew 
Johnson has again raised the rebel flag over the city 
of New Orleans ; that "my policy" has engendered 
the demon fury which prompted pardoned traitors 
in Louisiana to the massacre of a "Convention whose 
members were conspicuous for their loyalty during 
the years of war," and that we endorse the senti- 
ment of General Banks when he said, "Their blood 
shall be avenged, and in this as in all trials of good 
men the blood of the martyrs will be the sustenance 
of the church." 



368 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Resolved, (5) That we recognize in Governor 
Fletcher a true and tried standard-bearer, and en- 
dorse his late proclamation ; that we pledge our- 
selves before high heaven to stand by the Constitu- 
tion and laws of Missouri, and to stand by our own 
rights as Union men against traitors, Copperheads, 
and bushwhackers, whether under the lead of rebel 
or ex-Union officers. 

Resolved, (6) That the widows and orphans of 
our Union defenders who fell in the war against the 
slaveholders' Rebellion have our warmest sympa- 
thies, and we hereby pledge to them our united as- 
sistance, and never while we live shall it be said 
they lacked a kindness we could do them. 

Resolved, (7) That a copy of the proceedings of 
this meeting be published in the Missouri Democrat 
and Sedalia Times, with the request that loyal pa- 
pers please copy. 

Whatever part General Smith took in drawing 
up these resolutions, they certainly represent his 
views. He felt President Johnson's quarrel with 
Congress intensely; and he let no opportunity pass 
of denouncing what seemed to him the President's 
"traitorous" course. The result was not difficult to 
foresee. He was notified that he had been removed 
from his post as Assessor of Internal Revenue ; and 
on September 30, 1866, he vacated the office, after 
having held it for a little over a year. 

Shortly before this time General Smith's financial 
affairs were put on a safer footing. The judgment 
in favor of Fayette McMullen had hung over him 
during the years of the war; and when the ma- 
chinery of the civil courts was set in operation again 



DIFFICULTIES SETTLED 369 

in 1864, levy was made upon his property and sale 
advertised in satisfaction of the judgment. It 
seemed as though he had exhausted his last re- 
sources in the attempt to pay the amount or pro- 
cure delay; but on the day of sale, his friend and 
neighbor, Major William Gentry, arrived with a 
considerable sum of money, obtained from the sale 
of cattle at St. Louis. "Here is property," said the 
General to him, in explaining his plight, "that will 
bring over a hundred thousand dollars inside of six 
months^ about to be sold to pay a comparatively 
small indebtedness." The whole amount, he ex- 
plained, was only some $7,000, and he had already 
raised $2,500. Major Gentry advanced the balance, 
and the property was bid in, at the amount of the 
judgment and costs, in General Smith's name. Thus 
the results of the labor of the past ten years were 
saved ; and for this neighborly kindness of Major 
Gentry, General Smith never ceased to be most 
grateful. 

In 1867 a settlement was also reached in the tan- 
gled legal relations which had existed since the be- 
ginning of the war between General Smith and his 
partner in the Sedalia venture, Mr. D. W. Bouldin. 
In the interests of the parties, including: those of the 
town itself, it was agreed to submit all differences 
to arbitration. General Smith chose as his repre- 
sentative Major William Gentry ; Mr. Bouldin 
selected Mr. Reese Hughes, and these chose as the 
third Mr. Mentor Thomson. To this board the 
differences of the parties were submitted ; and after 



370 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the examination of a mass of papers, the arbitra- 
tors practically waived the attempt to strike a bal- 
ance between conflicting claims, and decided that 
neither party owed the other anything. It was some- 
thing, no doubt, to have the mass of claims and 
counter-claims cleared away ; but General Smith 
always felt that justice was not rendered him in the 
matter. 

In this connection mention should be made of a 
suit concerning the lands which General Smith 
bought in 1856 of the McVey heirs. A tract of a 
hundred and sixty-six acres in extent had been sold 
at private sale by Absolom McVey, as guardian and 
curator for his minor children, at a price consider- 
ably in excess of its appraised value ; and upon this 
tract the city of Sedalia was laid out. In 1866, ten 
years after the purchase, when the lands in ques- 
tion had greatly increased in value, suit was 
brought, nominally on behalf of the McVey heirs, 
to set aside the sale. It was claimed that the report 
of the sale by Mr. McVey, as curator, had not been 
made to the proper term of the county court ; that 
the appraisement was invalid for the reason that 
the appraisers' names were not appended to the 
certificate ; and that the order of sale was void, as 
the county court had no authority to order a pri- 
vate sale. 

Many lots in this tract had been sold by General 
Smith to other persons, and the holders of these 
found their titles threatened. Meetings were held 
to devise means of compromising the matter, but 



WINS LAND SUIT 371 

they were told that nearly $50,000 was demanded 
before quit-claim deeds would be granted. General 
Smith would listen to no suggestion of compromise, 
and fought the case from court to court. The mat- 
ter was finally carried to the Supreme Court of 
Missouri, and an opinion was rendered in 1869, 
establishing the legality of the sale. The closing 
paragraph of the opinion, which was given by 
Judge Morgan, embodies the gist of the matter : 

The property was regularly appraised by the 
curator, and it sold for largely more than the ap- 
praised value; and the purchaser has long since 
paid the purchase money. That money went into 
the hands of the curator, and constituted, a portion 
of the funds of his ward. The curatorship is stiil 
open and unsettled, and the curator is competent to 
act. One party has got the money, and the other 
party is entitled to the lands. The parties have not 
changed their condition, and no other equitable 
rights have intervened. By carrying out the con- 
tract and approving the sale, equal justice is meted 
out to all. Whereupon, in my opinion, the judgment 
of the circuit court should be reversed, and that of 
the county court sustained. 

This suit caused General Smith much expense 
and anxiety. Mr. McVey, from whom the land was 
purchased, was living at the time, but refused to be 
a party to the litigation. 'T acted as I then thought 
and now think," he wrote in a controversy which 
subsequently arose in the public press, "for the best 
interests of my children. They are as dear to me 
as 's children are to him. General Smith paid 



372 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

me a fair price for the land ; he acted honorably and 
fairly in that transaction, as he has in every one he 
has had with me, and I desire to do the same by 
him." 

The bitter legacy of heartburnings and hatreds 
which civil war leaves, is one of its saddest features. 
The very intimacy of former intercourse lends in- 
tensity to the struggle, and its memory afterward 
keeps alive the old rancors. Peace is observed only 
in outward acts. The desire for revenge and re- 
taliation lingers on. Actual hostilities cease ; but 
neither party can forget nor immediately forgive 
the losses, pecuniary and personal, which it has 
suffered at the hands of its antagonist. 

These considerations go far to explain the rela- 
tions which subsisted during and after the war be- 
tween General Smith and his fellow-townsmen of 
Southern sympathies. They held him responsible, 
in some sort, for the losses they had sustained and 
the humiliations that had been put upon them. He 
could only view them — as a class — as "abominable 
scoundrels," and "traitors." But the picture is not 
without its brighter side. When approached for 
alms by a discharged Confederate soldier, General 
Smith could upbraid the man, in his characteristic 
fashion, as "one of the abominable scoundrels who 
sought to break up the country, and who ought to 
be hanged;" but his practical goodness of heart 
would not permit him to let the man go without the 
aid he asked. 



THE NEGRO BOY :,yz 

The following anecdote narrated by Mrs. Smith, 
while illustrating the tension of feeling at the time, 
shows also some marked features of General Smith's 
character : 

In the little old church that first attested the faith 
of the Christian people after their removal from 
Georgetown, there was enacted in 1868 a scene that 
will illustrate, better than anything I can think of, 
the feeling that existed between the two political 
parties — of those, namely, who had been loyal and 
willing to stand by the Government, no matter to 
what sacrifice it led; and those who had thought 
only of their rights and the preservation of slavery. 

Among the negroes who had been left on our 
hands when our slaves left us, was a little boy 
about eight years of age, whose mother had deserted 
him. This boy became the pet of our household. 
We kept him in "the house" with us and cared for 
him, washing and dressing him ourselves. We de- 
lighted to teach him ; and as we knew the old fa- 
miliar words of tfie Bible so well from our mother's 
constant teaching, it was easy for us to hear him 
read from its pages while we were at work. In this 
way he became very familiar with the simple stories 
of the Old Testament, and with the touching pathos 
of the teachings of Christ and his apostles. Our 
father talked much at the fireside on the subjects 
of religion and politics, in both of which he realized 
fully and equally his responsibility to his Creator; 
and the little fellow, impressed by the earnestness 
of his deliverances, often attracted our attention by 
repeating verbatim his words, with his gestures and 
vehemence. The "botheration" of our father, and 
"the abominable scoundrels who are breaking up 
our government," were amusing as they fell from 



374 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

the lips of the Httle Ethiopean ; and when he would 
quote the wonderful and beautiful words of the 
Bible it was none the less interesting. 

He was very bright, and my sister took especial 
delight in dressing him nicely, and taking him with 
her to the Sunday-School. In a little green velvet 
cap and jacket, with brass buttons shining no less 
than his bright eyes and teeth, he sat behind the 
door, just at the entrance, where he could Hsten to 
the singing. The superintendent, a man recently 
from Indiana, was of like sentiments with ourselves. 
He would permit the boy to take a little book every 
Sunday, and return it the next, but the prejudice 
against educating negroes was so great that soon an 
outcry arose. The people, both officers and scholars, 
tired of his attendance, talked of his expulsion, and 
the boys threw stones at him when school was over. 
At last our father, unwilling to stand this, appeared 
before the church and told them there was one 
thing he wanted to say, when they talked of putting 
that boy out of Sunday-School. He wanted them 
distinctly to understand that he was a part of his 
family, and that when that boy was put out, he and 
his family would go, too. 

All this while an aunt of ours, who was strongly 
vSouthern in her feelings, was bringing a little negro 
girl to church with her as an attendant every Sun- 
day; and this girl would go up to the stove and sit 
down with the white children to warm herself, and 
nothing was thought of it. But she was not a pu- 
pil ; they were not educating her. It was this, it 
seemed, which made the one case endurable and 
the other objectionable. 

It was natural that social and political intoler- 
ance should linger long after the war came to . an 
end. It is refreshing to find pro-slavery men who 



SOUTHERN OPINIONS 375 

frankly accepted the issue of the contest, and sought 
to make the best of matters. Such was Dr. Wilkins 
Watson, who (July 30, 1865) wrote General 
Smith : 

You were wiser than us all ! In saying this I am 
free from any desire to flatter you. I but render a 
tribute to Truth, the deity at whose shrine none but 
fools are ashamed to worship. I accept the situa- 
tion. I was a pro-slavery man decidedly, but no 
secessionist ; and I never can forget or forego a 
certain "solemn obligation" to be a "quiet citizen" 
of the State, and faithful to the government that is 
over me, refusing to engage in plots and conspira- 
cies. Government is a human necessity, and may 
and must bear lightly or heavily on the governed 
according as exigencies may require. 

The negroes are free! and the material element 
of discord removed, never to be replaced. How 
these populations are to get along together may be a 
difficult problem to solve. Of one thing I am con- 
vinced ; and that is the agricultural labor necessary 
in the South will be as cheap, or cheaper, perhaps, 
than heretofore. Men like myself, raised in the 
South, are disposed to think it impossible to do 
without slaves ! They are startled from their pro- 
priety by the suggestion. They must and will very 
soon surrender the fallacy, taught by an experience 
somewhat bitter, but salutary. 

In the summer of 1868, General Smith took his 
elder daughter, Mrs. Smith, to the East for medical 
treatment. A few months before (February 20), 
his younger daughter, Sarah Elvira, had married an 
estimable gentleman, Mr. Henry S. Cotton, and to 
them he now wrote the following letter : 



376 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Washington, D. C, June ii, 1868. 
My dear Children : 

Heretofore I have rehed on your sister to keep 
you advised of our whereabouts ; now that I have 
left her, I must attend to that duty myself. 

I reached here this evening from Philadelphia, 
where I spent two nights and a day with Mr. 
Clement and his family [relatives of the lad Spen- 
cer, who, in 1857, had run off with some of General 
Smith's slaves]. They were very kind and hospit- 
able. It is pleasant to meet such generous, cordial 
hospitality. They have five children, two of them 
daughters. The oldest of the family is a daughter, 
who spent last year in Europe. Her father made her 
read me some of her letters home ; they were equal, 
if, indeed, they did not surpass anything I have 
ever seen. She is highly educated, but — like all the 
ladies I have seen in this country — not handsome. 

I shall leave for home next Monday ; will stop a 
day in St. Louis, and if I have good luck will be at 
home Friday or Saturday following. Write to me 
at St. Louis, directing to the care of B. F. Hick- 
man, Esq. Your sister thought she was improving. 
Farewell. G. R. Smith. 

From 1865 to 1870 the Republican party was 
in control of the State, largely by virtue of the 
disfranchising clauses in the Constitution of 1865. 
As disorder and war hatreds died down, an agitation 
arose for universal amnesty and the repeal of the 
"iron-clad" oath for voters, jurymen, ministers, 
lawyers, teachers, etc. The result was a division of 
the party into two opposing factions, the Radicals 
and the Liberals. The Democrats, because of dis- 
franchisement, were in a hopeless minority at the 



STATE POLITICS 377 

polls; they thought it the part of wisdom, in the 
election of November, 1870, to refrain from nomi- 
nations of their own, and to support the Liberal 
ticket. The combination was successful, B. Gratz 
Brown being elected Governor over Joseph W. Mc- 
Clurg, who was candidate for re-election on the 
Radical ticket. At the same time the disfranchising 
clauses of the Constitution were repealed by a ma- 
jority of 111,000 votes, — the Liberal party having 
"declared unequivocally" in favor of repeal, and 
the Radicals, ''concurring in the propriety" of the 
submission of the question to the people, having 
recognized ''the right of any member of the party 
to vote his honest convictions." In spite of the en- 
franchisement of the negro by the Fifteenth Amend- 
ment, proclaimed in March of the same year, this 
put the control of the State completely into the 
hands of the Democratic party, a control which w^as 
cemented by a revision of the Constitution in 1875. 
During these years General Smith took but little 
part in politics, as compared with his former activ- 
ity. He was now getting along in years ; and his 
business interests made constantly enlarged de- 
mands upon his attention. It was impossible, how- 
ever, for him to lose his interest in political mat- 
ters, or to refrain wholly from participation. Upon 
the incorporation of Sedalia in 1864, he was named 
in the charter as its first mayor, serving until the 
election in April, 1864. In 1868, his name was men- 
tioned for the governorship. At this time he was 
still a thorough-going Radical. In national politics, 



378 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

in common with many Republicans of the day, he 
ascribed "the failure to kick Johnson out of the 
Presidency" on impeachment, to *'the treachery of 
a few bought-up Senators ;" and upon J. B. Hen- 
derson, Senator from Missouri, who was one of the 
five Republicans whose votes acquitted the Presi- 
dent, he wished to see visited "the infamy he so 
richly deserves" for his independent course. "I* 
have never had any faith in him," he wrote Mrs. 
Cotton, May 28, 1868, "and I hope no honest 
Radical will ever trust him again." 

In 1870 General Smith joined the Liberal Re- 
publican movement ; and after the wuiidrawal of 
Colonel E. S. King, of Jefferson City, he entered 
the contest with S. S. Burdett, the regular Repub- 
lican nominee, for Congress. The latter was ranked 
as one of the best orators of the West, and General 
Smith began his canvass, as in 1858, only a few 
weeks before the election. He made an able cam- 
paign, but was defeated by a small majority, carry- 
ing his own county by 250 votes. Soon after this, 
he returned to the regular branch of the Republi- 
can party. In 1872 he was nominated as candidate 
for the legislature, but made little effort to secure 
an election, and was again defeated. In 1874, and 
in 1875, he was elected alderman of Sedalia, seek- 
ing the office with a view to exposing what he con- 
ceived to be frauds in the tax assessments. Except 
for this service, he may be considered to have re- 
tired from politics after the campaign of 1872. He 
was now upwards of sixty-eight years of age, and 




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GROWTH OF SEDALIA 379 

from his first coming to Missouri, forty years be- 
fore, had labored assiduously for liberal political 
principles and the material betterment of the com- 
munity and section in which he lived. He had 
earned his release from the burdens of politics, and 
might well leave the struggle to younger men. 

During these years General Smith had seen Se- 
dalia grow and flourish until it approached the city 
of his dreams. The stagnation which attended tlie 
outburst of war lasted until the summer of 1862. 
Thenceforth, till peace was declared, the place was 
a military post, and in spite of occasional rebel 
raids a thriving business developed. The town be- 
came and remained, until about 1870, the depot for 
a considerable trade with the country lying to the 
west and southwest, in which hides, furs, pelts, and 
cattle were exchanged for the supplies needed in 
those regions, untouched as yet by railroads. At the 
close of the war, the population of Sedalia was only 
1,000, and the little town bore every mark of its 
newness. By the date of General Smith's death, in 
1879, it had developed into a city of nearly ten thou- 
sand inhabitants, with paved streets, gas and water 
works, an opera house, and three railroads, making 
it the distributing center for an extensive region. 
In this development he had borne his part, being 
active in the negotiations to bring the Lexington 
and St. Louis, and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas 
railroads to Sedalia. But in working now for the 
development of the community, he was not left 
to bear the burdens so nearly alone. The new 



38o LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

settlers who had come to SedaHa since the war 
were largely of Northern lineage, and were pos- 
sessed of greater energy and business capacity than 
the Georgetown settlers and the Heath creek aristo- 
crats of former days. Younger men were ready to 
assume the labor of these undertakings and carry 
them through with efficiency and dispatch. Build- 
ing on the foundations already laid, and working in 
many cases along lines already marked out, the re- 
sult was the establishment, on Southern soil, of a 
town of a new type. Sedalia became an outpost of 
Northern business ideas and habits ; and from it as 
from a center radiated an influence which materially 
aided the transition from a regime of slavery to 
one of free labor, and placed Western and South- 
western Missouri in the path of prosperity, intelli- 
gence, and happiness. 

For some years before his death General Smith 
was troubled with a painful disease, but charac- 
teristically sought to keep all knowledge of his suf- 
fering from his family. Neglect caused the disease 
to grow worse, until finally it took a fatal turn. 
After an illness of sixteen days, it ended his life 
on July II, 1879. Of these last days Mrs. Cotton 
gives the following account : 

On the morning of the 25th of June I was awak- 
ened by my father's voice calling to me and say- 
ing : 'T am going to Hughesville to-day." I sprang 
up and urged him to wait for his breakfast; he re- 
plied that he would get breakfast in Hughesville — 
that he had barely time to meet the train. So, bid- 



ILLNESS AND DEATH 381 

ding me good-by, he rushed out of the house with 
his accustomed vim. 

The day wore on with its torrid heat. When the 
train was due at 11 :oo p.m., the man brought him 
home. I was waiting and greeting him with : ''How 
are you, Pa?" He repHed, 'T am sick; let me have 
a good drink of water, and I will go to bed." Think- 
ing it a passing malady, we too went to bed. Dur- 
ing the night he called up his ''boy." I went into 
his room and urged him to have a doctor ; he re- 
plied : "If I am not better at daybreak, I will send 
for Dr. Trader." The morning found him no better. 
The doctor came, and was surprised to find him so 
ill. Day after day we watched anxiously at his bed- 
side, and day after day his strength failed; but so 
slowly did it go that we did not realize his condi- 
tion. His sick-room was one where his friends loved 
to gather ; he was so peaceful and cheerful we could 
not feel that his life was going. 

On the 4th of July the doctors realized that his 
condition was very critical. That day he said to his 
nephew, Mr. Wilkerson : "I am fully aware of the 
situation ;" but he did not want anything said to his 
children about it. So, day after day, in the full pos- 
session of his powers and faculties, he waited for 
death. He asked for no prayers, called for no at- 
torneys ; but like a child on its mother's bosom, he 
passed out beyond the bar into the fathomless ocean 
of eternity. Yet who can know what spirit-friends 
were around that bed of death — what tender tokens 
of love the Elder Brother gave that dying soul? 
Some little things there were that warrant these 
fancies ; but they are too sacred — too sweet — to be 
here set down. 

His life had been a benediction to his friends. He 
had been strength to the weak, and a power for 



382 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

good all the days of his three score and fifteen years. 
And at last, when he passed from this life, he went 

". . . not like the quarry-slave at night, 
Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust, [approached his] grave 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 

It remains to present some estimate of the char- 
acter and personality of the man. 

General Smith was of large mold in every way, — 
large and generous in heart, as well as of noble 
presence and physique. He was upwards of six 
feet in height, and from his broad chest proceeded 
a deep and resonant voice. His features were of 
the expressive sort that light up with laughter and 
joviality, or darken with wrath and denunciation. 
The underlying and never-failing trait of his char- 
acter was kindliness. Despite his vehement denun- 
ciations of men and measures, his hatreds were all 
in the abstract. ''He and I differed widely in poli- 
tics," wrote a friend in 1889, "yet there was no man 
whom I approached more readily, and whose opin- 
ion was more cherished on any and all subjects than 
that of General Smith. . . . Although at times 
erratic in expression, he was at heart one of the best 
men I ever knew ; having a heart, when rightly ap- 
proached, as tender as a child's. Suffering in ani- 
mal or man touched the very innermost feelings of 
his noble heart, and no one ever responded more 
cheerfully toward its relief. Those of us who 



HIS CHARACTER 383 

knew him well knew that one of the prime charac- 
teristics of the man was that when he was the most 
intense in expression towards those who differed 
with him in political or religious sentiments, he 
could be the most easily reached, and his influence 
secured towards any relief asked for." *'He had a 
forcible way of expressing himself," wrote Rev. 
John H. Miller, a ministerial friend, "especially 
when warmed with the excitement of debate or con- 
troversy, which would lead any one not acquainted 
with him to attribute to him feelings which he did 
not possess. When talking about the Civil War 
and the men who fought on the Confederate side, 
he has often been heard to say : 'If I had had my 
way every one of the abominable rascals would have 
been hung.' And yet, those who knew him best 
knew that his heart was so tender that he could not 
have been induced to do anything which would 
have given pain and suffering to a single human 
being. His heart was easily touched by the suffer- 
ing of others. A poor woman with several children 
came into a public dining-room one evening near 
dusk. She had landed with her little ones from a 
train on the M. K. and T. R. R. near at hand, and 
wandered in, not knowing where to go. Her con- 
dition was one of pity indeed, if she told the truth. 
Without waiting to hear whether her story was true 
or not, he reached into his pocket and drew forth 
a bill of no small denomination, and pressing it into 
her hand, advised her to seek shelter for herself and 
children where they would be comfortable." 



384 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

Stories similar to the above might be multipUed 
almost indefinitely. A well developed sense of hu- 
mor, and love for a good story, were also traits of 
his character. Of these Mr. Miller writes : 

His mind was well stored with reminiscences and 
stories of the early times in Missouri, and by his 
manner and conversation he made himself a very 
pleasant companion. His appreciation of wit was 
keen, and he enjoyed a good story or a joke. The 
idiosyncrasies of some of the singular characters 
he had come in contact with amused him, and he de- 
lighted to speak of them to his intimate friends. I 
have often enjoyed a hearty laugh at his delinea- 
tion of the church officer he once knew who was 
given to the habit of profane swearing, but who 
believed in paying his debts as he went along; and 
so, after every oath, would pause long enough to 
say ''God forgive me," and then proceed to swear 
again, and again exclaim in an aside, like the actor 
on the stage, "God forgive me ;" and so continue to 
swear and pray for forgiveness ad iinem. He en- 
joyed relating this as a jocular hit at me; because, 
as he said, this particular offender was an officer in 
a church of my denomination. 

He was especially fond of denouncing, in a good- 
natured way, the fact that there are so many de- 
nominations among christians, and used to declare 
there should be but one, and, of course, that one 
should be the church of which he was a member, 
the Christian church. More than once he has said : 
"Suppose that Paul, the apostle, should come here 
some Saturday night. He would stop at the Ives 
House all night. In the morning, as soon as he had 
had his breakfast, he would say to the clerk, 
"VVhere is the church?" The clerk would sav, 



HIS CHARACTER 585 

"Which church?" Paul would reply, "Why the 
church where people go to worship God." The 
clerk would then say, "Well, there is the Methodist 
church." "The Methodist church?" Paul would 
say; "I never heard of the Methodist church when 
I was on the earth." "Then there is the Presby- 
terian," the clerk would say. "The Presbyterian? 
What is that?" Paul would ask. "And then there 
is the Baptist," the clerk would add. "Baptist? 
Baptist? I do not know anything about a Baptist 
church ; never heard of one in my life," Paul would 
say. "Then there are the Episcopalian, the Cath- 
olic, and the Christian churches." "The Christian, 
did you say?" Paul would answer. "That is the 
church for me ; I will go there." 

From preceding chapters it will have been seen 
that General Smith was essentially a family man. 
"His memory of his wife," writes Mr. Miller, 
"was exceedingly beautiful. She had been dead 
some years before I knew him, but he always re- 
ferred to her with a tender devotion that showed 
that when he thought of her he felt that he was 
standing on holy ground." The loyal attachment 
to his memory which his daughters have shown in 
the twenty-five years that have elapsed since his 
death, constitutes one of the most striking trib- 
utes to his worth and nobility as a man, and his af- 
fection as a father. The moderate fortune which 
he left them, they have tried to administer in his 
spirit of philanthropic usefulness, with zeal for the 
best interests of the city which he founded. Their 
private and public benefactions, equally with this 
biography, constitute so many tributes to his mem- 



386 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

ory ; and their recollections of him are sacred and 
tender. 



His nature [writes Mrs. Cotton] was ardent and 
loving, full of the altruism that leads a man to sac- 
rifice himself for his fellow man ; and with that 
spirit he filled every post of duty, both at home and 
abroad, in private and in public life. To my child- 
hood's fancy he seemed a veritable Cid Campeador. 
Nothing daunted his indomitable spirit. My timid 
little mother dreaded the spirited horses which he 
delighted to drive; but he would say, ''Shut your 
eyes, and I will carry you safely." This to my 
young ears was all assuring, and my eyes would 
close in peaceful serenity. He would laughingly 
boast that he could drive from Georgetown to 
Frankfort on ''knitting needles." His riding horse 
at the time of his marriage was called Patrick 
Henry; mounted on him he thought he had the 
world in a sling. He always spoke with pride of 
being in the company detailed as an escort for the 
Marquis de Lafayette on his visit to Kentucky. 

He was the incarnation of kindly and loving 
thoughts. His home was fragrant with the rich 
perfume of warm affections ; for love filled his soul 
with its beauty and bloom, and shed its sweetness 
about him. His nature was full of sympathy and 
tenderness. Little children, who at first were awed 
by his stentorian voice, learned to love him and 
counted him a companion. They would ride with 
him, walk with him, play with him, and talk with 
him, in preference to other companions. A radi- 
ance of sunshine was about him. To each and all 
there fell from his lips some kindly greeting, 
whether in the street, at home, or among his serv- 
ants. If sorrow came across his pathway, he was 



HIS CHARACTER 387 

ready with sympathetic words, or, if need be, some 
more tangible evidence of his interest. 

The wife and children cherished by his great 
heart were happy ; how could they be otherwise 
when his strong arm was drawn so closely and lov- 
ingly about them? In the days before the war, 
though we lived in a cabin, the luxuries of a palace 
were ours ; for the big-hearted husband and father 
would return from his frequent business trips, 
laden like Santa Claus with surprises and delights 
for the wife and children at home. His pet names 
for us children were "father's child" and "father's 
woman ;" and whenever his eyes fell on us there 
was a caress, a sweet word of affection, an over- 
flowing of the full heart. Never were wife and 
children loved more tenderly than were we ! 

Finer still is the picture which the elder daugh- 
ter draws of the infinite love and care of the father 
when, almost at a blow, there came the loss of her 
little boy, the disruption of her home, and ill-health, 
the prelude to forty years of invalidism. 

Just after our return home in the fall of 1861, 
a darker cloud than ever before threw its pall about 
me ; but my father's deep, divine love, without re- 
proach, without vituperation for any one, went into 
the shadow with me, and I was safe. Even with 
my grief, eternally safe ; and I thank the Maker of 
all beautiful things that I ever knew such a father. 

Thereafter, my wonderfully tender and beautiful 
father watched me closely ; and fearing that he saw 
decline in the face that I tried for his sake to keep 
cheerful, he came to me and said : "Wherever you 
want to go, or whatever you want to do, it shall be 
done." And he never permitted me, in the years 



388 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

that he lived, to go away from home, or to come 
back, alone. He took me to many physicians, in 
the East as well as the West, and tried hard to re- 
store me to health ; and through it all he watched 
over me as though I were a little child. Hence- 
forth I was his charge. In all the beautiful nine- 
teen years that followed, I never seemed for one 
moment a burden to him. Generous, grand, beau- 
tiful, he served me with a tenderness, chivalry, and 
devotion that was sweet and marvelously patient. 
Again I thank God for such a father, such a friend ! 

In politics as in private life General Smith was 
incapable of dissimulation ; and it may be said that 
he was ever true to himself, his principles, and his 
friends. "You always knew exactly where to find 
him," wrote one who had known him from his 
Kentucky boyhood days. 

No man's political creed [wrote Judge Fagg] 
was more firmly fixed in his own mind or more 
conscientiously and faithfully adhered to than his. 
He was a strong partisan, it is true, but he was a 
partisan from principle, and not from mere feeling 
or prejudice. His conclusions were always intelli- 
gently reached, after the most patient and thor- 
ough investigation. He always had the courage of 
his convictions and the ability to defend them. He 
was a man, as I read him, of broad views and lib- 
eral spirit. ... In public life he was always 
prompt and faithful in the discharge of his duties. 
With a becoming dignity in his deportment, he was 
nevertheless easy of approach and exceedingly kind 
and courteous to all with whom he came in contact. 
It is a great gratification to me to be able to num- 
ber General George R. Smith among my personal 



HIS CHARACTER 389 

friends, and to know that he received such a large 
share of the confidence and respect of those who 
knew him best. I am especially glad to know that 
he lived to see so many of his hopes and anticipa- 
tions in life fully gratified. He not only lived to 
see his pet scheme of the Missouri Pacific railroad 
finished to the western boundary of the State, but 
under its influence he saw literally the "desert bloom 
and blossom as the rose." He saw with feelings of 
proud satisfaction the spot upon which he had fixed 
his own domicile covered by a beautiful and pros- 
perous city — his dearly loved city of Sedalia. He 
lived to see his country free from the horrors of 
war, and with a gentle smile of peace and prosper- 
ity resting upon every hill and valley. It has been 
the lot of few men in life to have reached the same 
measure of success and to have passed away with a 
more sincere regret of their friends and fellows. 

The impression made by General Smith's per- 
sonal appearance and bearing is indicated in the 
following statement (dated April 14, 1904) from 
Dr. Alexander Hamilton Laidlaw, of New York: 

To be in the company of a hero is an inspiration. 
This fact I never felt so keenly as when I first met 
General George R. Smith. He had come to New 
York from Sedalia to place one of his daughters 
.under my professional care. This was nearly forty 
years ago. I had seen many heroes before, — brave 
men, soldiers and civilians in plenty, who had made 
records of daring; but there was something in 
General Smith's personality that eclipsed them all, 
and this feeling was confirmed by many later in- 
terviews. A giant in stature, with a look of daring 
capable of dangerous work, and with the bearing of 



390 LIFE OF GEORGE R. SMITH 

a man who had won in many hazardous fields of 
life, he exhibited in his appearance and manner all 
those qualities that "give the world assurance of a 
man." A few years before I met him, he had liber- 
ated his slaves. Democracy was on his side finan- 
cially; Republicanism was on the side of his coun- 
try. He was a fierce politician, but he was a greater 
patriot. His patriotism, at this time, not only di- 
minished his fortune, but it endangered his life. 
In talking over this period of his life with him, I 
know of no words in history which so exactly ex- 
press his decision, as the words of Martin Luther 
at the Diet of Worms : ''Here I take my stand. I 
can do no otherwise, so help me God !" 

As a closing tribute to his memory may be quoted 
the words in which Sedalia, the city of his pride and 
love, mourned his loss. In resolutions adopted 
July 14, 1879, the Common Council of the city de- 
clared: "General George R. Smith, . . . the 
founder of our beautiful city, . . . has been 
thoroughly identified with every material interest, 
and has been the promoter and active supporter of 
everything that has tended to build up and make 
prosperous and happy the people of Sedalia. He 
was the staunch friend and substantial helper of 
the poor and the distressed in every time of need ; 
and while positive in his convictions and resolute 
and determined in advocating the right and defend- 
ing against the wrong, yet his great heart of love 
went out in sympathy and deeds of kindness to the 
oppressed and needy, without regard to affiliations 
by blood, or party lines, religion, or otherwise. He 



HIS CHARACTER 391 

has been an exceedingly active man, very aggres- 
sive in his nature, frequently called to fill important 
positions of public trust. Yet in his varied and ex- 
tended relations with society as a private citizen he 
has won the good will and esteem of all ; and in his 
capacity as a public man he has invariably re- 
deemed the confidence reposed in him. At the end 
of a busy life of three-quarters of a century, he 
goes down to his grave with the escutcheon of his 
honor untarnished, and respected and loved by all 
who ever knew him." 



INDEX 



Abell, Alex. A., 86-7. 
Acock, Robert, 136, 180. 
Akers, Thomas P., 253-5. 
Allen, Thomas, 157, 161-2, 

165-6. 
Anderson, Thomas, 260, 268, 

270, 
Atchison, Senator David R., 

124, 181, 190, 212-3, 228. 

Barret, Richard J., 180. 

Benton, Senator Thomas H., 
66, 81, 82, 83, 88, 1 19-20, 124, 
177, 181-5, 189-93, 250, 275. 

Bingham, George C, 207. 

Birch, James H., 63, 66-8, 
73-4, 76, 78-9. 

Birch,Weston F., 75, 76, 81-2, 
142. 

Blair, Francis P., 180, 231, 
244, 248, 249, 265-6, 268-70, 
277, 282, 308,313, 315, 320, 

339- 
Blakey, A. J., 207, 248. 
Blow, Henry T., 181. 
"Blue Lodges," 21 1-2. 
Bouldin, D. W., 289, 333, 369- 

70. 
Boyd, Marcus, 180. 
Breckenridge, Samuel M., 

180. 
Breckinridge,JohnC., 145,328. 



Britton, James H., 180. 
Broadhead,JamesO.,3i3,320. 
Brown, B. Gratz, 180, 196, 

207, 208, 231, 248, 257-60, 

307-8, 320, 377. 
Brown, James, 94, 106-7. 
Burden, Eldridge, 249, 257, 

Campbell, "Jack", 75, 121, 
123, 131, 132, 134, 136, 142. 

Carr, Peter, 181. 

"Charcoal convention", 334-8. 

Church, Rev. Samuel S., 41. 

Clark, John B., 142. 

Clement, Samuel L., 237, 376. 

Cotton, Mrs. Sarah E., 1 1, 1 10, 
146-7, 238, 296-8, 334, 375, 
378, 380-2, 386-7. 

Cravens, Charles E., 62. 

Crittenden, John J., 328. 

Crittenden, T. T., 327-8. 

Davis, Benjamin, 10. 
Davis, Joe, 180, 227-8. 
Dent, Josiah, 291. 
Doniphan, AlexanderW., 130, 

134, 180, 183, 190-2, 261. 
Doniphan, John, 180. 
Drake, Charles D., 339, 348. 
Dupuy, Elizabeth, 4, 5. 

Ellis, v., '](>, 79, 80-1, 82-3. 
Ewing, R.C., 232,250,254,256. 



393 



394 



INDEX 



FaggJ.C, 179-87, 193,201-2, 
203-5, 206-7, 247. 388-9. 

Felix, Dr. W. L., 289, 294. 

Filley, Giles, 320. 

Filley, Oliver D.,313,319,320. 

Fletcher, Gov. Thomas C, 
160, 320, 325-6, 330, 338-9, 
352-3, 362. 

Fogg, Mrs. Elizabeth (Du- 

puy), 4, 5- 
Forsee, William, 4. 
Fremont, John C, 120, 256, 

322,325,329,337-8,345. 
Frost, Cyrus H., 180. 
Frost, Daniel M., 313. 

Gamble, Gov. Hamilton R., 
320, 321, 323-4, 330-1, 332, 

339,341,342,348,351- 
Gano, John Allen, Sr., 8, 61 

(note). 
Gardenhire, James B., 208, 

268. 
Gentry, William, 369. 
Georgetown (Mo.) founded, 

27-30; life in, 31-55, 285-6; 

decline of, 286. 
Geyer, Senator Henry S., 

182-3. 
Glover, Samuel T., 313, 320. 
Goode, George W., 180. 
Gray, H. P., 162. 
Grover, B. W., 162-4, 165, 

168, 249, 318, 319. 
Grover, George S., 301-2, 

318-9. 
Gunell, Mrs. Marion (Thom- 
son), 18,23, 24, 34, no. 



Guerrant, Judith, 4. 
Guitar, Odon, 180. 

Haden, Joel H., 81, 82, 85, 

122-3, 131, 135-7. 
Hall,WillardP.,32o,32i,348. 
Hardeman, J. Locke, 220-4. 
Hardin, Charles H., 180. 
Harding, Chester, 332. 
Heard, George, 32, 42. 
Henderson, Senator John B., 

320, 378. 
Henderson, Thomas, 5. 
Heydon, Ezekiel, i. 
Heydon, Sally, i, 4. 
Hickman, William, 3. 
Hinton, Otho, 93. 
Hogan, J. D., 80, 
Hornsby, Brinksly, 230-1, 

232-3- 
How, John, 313, 320. 
Hughes, Reese, 369. 

Jackson, Claiborne F., 183, 
184,311-2, 314-6, 321, 324. 

Jackson resolutions, 183-4. 

Johnson, Richard M., 61-2, 
68,80,81. 

Jones, Claude, 131. 

Jones, John S., 105-7. 

Jones, Joshua, 85. 

Kansas, disturbances in, 

210-233. 
Kennett, Luther M., 166-7. 

Laidlaw, Dr. Alexander H., 
389-90. 



INDEX 



395 



Lincoln, President, on Mis- 
souri politics, 349-51. 

Longan, George W., 41. 

Lusk, James, 209, 268. 

Lyon, General Nathaniel, 
315-6, 319, 320, 321-2. 

McChesney, Thomas S., 

171-2. 
McClannahan, Dan, 112. 
McCoy, John C, 190-1. 
McMullen, Fayette, 287, 333, 

368-9. 
McVey, Absalom, 287, 288, 

370, 371-2. 
Major, Lewis Redd, 17, 24, 

40, 49.^ 
Martin, Mrs. Esther (Smith), 

4-5- 
Martin, James, 4. 
Martin, John A., 270-1. 
Mayo, William J., 196. 
Medley, George, 180, 184. 
Miller, John G., 191-2, 248, 

252. 
Miller, Rev. John H., 383, 

384-5- 
Mitchell, A. S,, 196-7. 

Montgomery, Samuel, 318. 
Mormon War, The, 58-60. 

Neal, Henry, 322. 
Newland, William, 181. 
Noel, J. W., 331. 

O'Hara, Kane, 10. 
Omnibus bill, in aid of Mis- 
souri railroads, 201-9. 



Pacific railway, 155-75, 186, 
187-8, 193-209, 261, 280, 
281-3, 288, 294. 

Phelps, John S., 122-3, 131, 

I35» 137. 143-4, 320. 
Phelps, Mrs. Mary, 143-4. 
Philips, J. F., 276-7, 326-7, 

332. 
Polk, Gov. Trusten, 257. 
Price, Gov. Sterling, 202, 

203-4, 206, 208, 213-4, 321. 
Price, Thomas L., 208-9, 262, 

268, 281. 

Railways, ioi, 130, 153-75, 

193-209, 279-82. 
Reed, Dr. Silas, 79, 83-4. 
Reid, John W., 180, 277. 
Rollins, James S., 180, 191, 

207, 224-6, 243-5, 247-9, 

250-1, 252, 256, 257-64, 270, 

282, 299. 
Russell, W. H., 106-7, 171. 

249, 254, 255-7, 262, 265, 

267-8. 

Santa Fe, traffic, 104-12. 
Scott, General Winfield S., 

II 7-8. 
Sedalia, founded, 287-94; 

origin of the name, 291; 

effect of the war, 322, 333; 

growth, 379-80. 
Sigel, General Franz, 329- 

30- 
Simms, Charles, 181. 
Smith, Ann, 2. 
Smith, George, 2, 15-6. 



39^ 



INDEX 



Smith, George R., ancestry, 
1-4; birth, 1,4; removal to 
Kentucky, 4; death of his 
mother, 4; education, 5-10; 
death of his father, 9-10; 
deputy sheriff, lo-ii; mar- 
ried, 11; loss of patrimony, 
12-13; removal to Mis- 
souri, 17-21; his first cabin 
burned, 25; settles at 
Georgetow^n, 31-4; builds 
the court-house, 28-30; 
joins the Christian church, 
40; speech on education, 
43; tries to establish a fe- 
male academy at George- 
town, 46; occupies building 
as residence, 46; speech on 
temperance, 54-5; business 
ventures, 57-8; serves in 
the " Mormon war," 60; 
made brigadier-general of 
militia, 60; elected justice 
of the peace, 62; twice de- 
feated for the legislature 
(1838, 1840), 62; appointed 
Receiver of Public Mon- 
eys at Springfield, Mo., 77; 
removed by President 
Polk, 89; mail contracts, 
91-5; trip to Washington 
(1846), 95; letter to his wife, 
96-8; letter to his daugh- 
ters, 99-103; contract for 
carrying army stores to 
Santa Fe, 105-7; letter to 
his daughter, no; fights 
cholera in the camp, 1 1 1-2; 



quits freighting business, 
112; seeks Whig nomina- 
tion for Congress, 122-3, 
127; secures location of 
Pacific railroad on the in- 
land route, 157-75; elected 
to Missouri House of Rep- 
resentatives (1854), 176-9; 
in the legislature, 179-209; 
further aid to Pacific rail- 
road, 186-8, 193-209; re- 
fuses to join a"BlueLodge," 
212 (note); opposes Mis- 
souri interference in Kan- 
sas, 215-20; reception of 
his Kansas views, 220-33; 
views on slavery (1854), 
216-7, 219-20, (1858) 275, 
(1861)339,(1862)340.(1863) 
344; attempted escape of 
three of his slaves (1854), 
234-9; joins American or 
" Know Nothing " party, 
243; twice defeated for 
American nomination to 
Congress ( i 8 5 6), 251-5; 
runs as independent candi- 
date (1858), 271-5; is de- 
feated, 277; director of 
Pacific railroad, 281-2; ef- 
forts to elect him president 
of the road, 281-2; foresees 
ruin of Georgetown, 286; 
founds Sedalia, 287-94; 
death of his wife, 295; sup- 
ports Bell and Everett 
(i860), 301 ; his slaves freed, 
302; "unconditionally" for 



INDEX 



397 



the Union in i860, 316-7; 
aids Union cause, 318-20, 
332, 363-4; Adjutant-Gen- 
eral of Missouri, 322-32; 
visit in Ohio (1862), 334-5; 
becomes a "Radical," 330, 
339; unsuccessful candi- 
dature for the legislature, 
33Q-40; vice-president of 
the " Charcoal" convention 
(1863), 343-8; member of 
Radical committee sent to 
confer with Lincoln, 348- 
51; presidential elector on 
Lincoln ticket (1864), 352; 
elected to State Senate, 
352; introduces resolution 
for vacating State offices 
held by Rebel sympathiz- 
^I'Sj 353; his speech advo- 
cating same, 354-61; ac- 
cepts office of Assistant 
Assessor of Internal Rev- 
enue, 363; Radical resolu- 
tions ( 1 866), 365-8 ; removed 
by President Johnson, 368; 
financial difficulties set- 
tled, 368-9; differences with 
D. W. Bouldin arbitrated, 
369-70; wins suit concern- 
ing Sedalia lands, 370-1; 
Liberal Republican candi- 
date for Congress (1870), 
378; candidate forthe legis- 
lature (1872), 378; last ill- 
ness and death, 380-2; per- 
sonality and character, 
382-90. 



Smith, Mrs. George R., 11, 

18, 33. 39, 92, 95-9, no; 
death of, 295; character, 
296-8. 

Smith, George Stovall, 2-3. 

Smith, James, 2-3, 8. 

Smith, Martha Elizabeth 
(Mrs. M. E. Smith), 11, 18, 
24, 26, 28, 31, 32, 34, 39, 
91-3, 207, 239, 283-5, 289- 
94, 295, 302, 322-4, 332, 

334-5, 373-4, 375, 387-8. 
Smith, " Millpond " George, 

2-5, 9-10, 16. 
Smith, Sarah Elvira. See 

Mrs. S. E. Cotton. 
Smith, Thomas, 2. 
Spencer, Henry, 234-9. 
Stevenson, John D, 181, 189- 

90, 320. 
Stewart, Gov. Robert M., 181, 

184, 205-6, 258, 264, 309-11. 
Stone, Rev. Barton W., 5-10. 

Tabler, C. a., 2, 267. 
Taylor, President Zachary, 

118, 126, 127, 128, 129, 139- 

42, 143-4. 
Thomson, General David, 1 1- 

12, 16-7, 17-24, 25, 41, 57, 

67, 285. 
Thomson, Manlius V., 18, 57, 

65, 68, 70-1, 87-8, 144-52. 
Thomson, Marion (Mrs. Gun- 
ell), 18, 23,24, 34, no. 
Thomson, Martha Vienna, 18. 
Thomson, Melcena, 18, 24, 

34. 



398 



INDEX 



Thomson, Melita A. See 

Mrs. George R. Smith. 
Thomson, Mentor, i8, 25, 34, 

317, 369- 
Thomson, Mildred Elvira 

(Mrs. Louis Redd Major), 

18, 298. 
Thomson, Milton, 19, 21, 43. 
Thomson, Monroe, 19. 
Thomson, Morton, 19, 69, 80. 
Todd, Albert, 180. 
Tyler, President John, 70, 71, 

72, 75. n^ 78, 79. 80, 81, 82, 

84, 85, 86, 87. 
Tyler, John, Jr., 86. 

Van Buren, President Mar- 
tin, 80, 81, 82, 84. 

Vest, George G., 225 (note), 
277. 314. 



Watson, Dr. Wilkins, 38, 47, 

375. 
Wells, Carte, 31. 
Wickliffe, C. A., 71. 
Wilson, John, 71-2, 117-22, 

124-6, 128-35, 138-42, 261. 
Wilson, Robert, 142, 181, 226. 
Wilson, William, 142. 
Witzig, Julius J., 313. 
Wood, Watson and Clifton, 

27. 35- 

Woodson, Samuel H., 95, 162, 
169, 245-6, 252, 255, 263, 
267, 268-9, 270, 272-4, 276. 

Woolridge, Cora (Mrs. Men- 
tor Thomson), 19. 

Wright, Rev. Allen, 39, 40-1, 
121, 246-7. 

Yeatman, James E., 320. 



Wasson, Thomas, 27. 



ZlEGLER, C. C, 181. 



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